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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 

PROFESSOR 
BENJAMIN  H.  LEHMAN 


LITE 


OP 


ALGERNON  SYDNEY; 


WITH 


SKETCHES   OF  SOME  OF  HIS   CONTEMPORARIES   AND 

EXTRACTS  FROM  HIS  CORRESPONDENCE  AND 

POLITICAL  WRITINGS. 


BY 

G.    VAN    SANTVOORD. 


THIRD     EDITION. 


NEW  YORK : 

CHARLES  SCRTBN ':R,  146 ^NASSAU  STREET 
1854. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress.  In  the  year  1852,  by 
CHAELES    SCRIBNEE, 
In  the  Clerk's  Ofllce  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District 

of  New  York,  , 


GIFT 


DAH07 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Paob 

Family  of  Sidney — His  birth  and  early  education — Travels  with 

his  father  on  the  Continent — Goes  to  France — Returns  to  Eng- 
land in  1641 — Connmencement  of  the  Civil  War — Appointed  to 
the  command  of  a  Troop  in  Ireland— Serves  in  Ireland — Returns 
to  England  in  1643 — His  political  sentiments  at  this  time — 
Enters  into  the  service  of  Parliament — Appointed  a  Colonel  un- 
der Manchester — Battle  of  Naseby — Sidney  wounded,  and  sent  to 
London— Appointed  Governor  of  Chichester — Retires  from  ac- 
tive service — Progress  of  the  Civil  War — The  Indei)endents  get 
control  of  the  army — Appointed  Colonel  under  Fairfax — Elected 
Member  of  Long  Parliament — Goes  with  his  brother  to  Ireland 
Appointed  Lieutenant-General  and  Governor  of  Dublin — Service 
in  Ireland — His  return — Receives  the  thanks  of  Parliament — 
Apointed  Goveriier  of  Dover  Castle — Reflections  on  his  military 
career 20 

CHAPTER    II. 

The  Long  Parliament — Its  history — Difficulty  attending  the  elec-  , 
tion  of  new  members — Sidney  elected  from  Cardiff— Does  not 
take  an  active  part  in  its  deliberations — Events  which  led  to  the 
trial  of  the  King — Conference  with  the  King  at  the  Isle  of  Wight 
— Treacherous  conduct  of  Charles — "  Pride's  purge" — Proceedings 
to  bring  the  King  to  trial — Sidney  nominated  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners— Declines  to  sit — His  reasons — His  opinions  of  the  King's 
guilt — Reflections  on  the  trial  and  execution  of  the  King — Con- 
duct of  the  judges— Sidney  retires  to  Penshurst — Returns  to  Lon- 
don after  the  King's  death — ResiJmes  his  seat  in  Parliament,  and 
sustains  the  government — Establishment  of  the  Commonwealth 

538 


IV  •  CONTENTS. 

Fags 

—Installation  of  the  new  Council  of  State — Sidney  opposes  the 

"  test"  oath  in  Parliament— Difficulty  with  Cromwell— Question 
respecting  the  dissolution  of  Parliament — Sidney  a  member  of 
the  committee  to  which  it  was  referrea — Labors  of  the  commit- 
tee— Subject  referred  to  committee  of  the  whole — Difficulty  be- 
tween Sidney  and  his  officers — Resigns  the  command  of  Dover — 
~  Visits  Holland — Quarrels  with  the  Earl  of  Oxford— Returns  to 
England  and  resumes  his  parliamentary  duty — Appointed  on  va- 
rious committees — His  colleagues—Vigor  of  the  Commonwealth 
government— rSidney's  account  of  it — Ambition  of  Cromwell — 
His  hostility  to  Sidney— Contest  between  the  military  and  civil 
power — The  Republicans  oppose  Cromwell — Plan  of  the  Repub- 
licans to  dissolve  Parliament  and  call  a  new  one— Plan  of  Crom- 
well— Vane's  Bill— Is  defended  by  Sidney — Crisis  in  public  af- 
fairs—Long Parliament  dissolved  by  Cromwell — Sidney  forced 
out — Retires  to  Penshurst— Refuses  to  take  any  further  part  in 
the  government — Cromwell — Vane 44 

CHAP  TEE    III. 

Sidney's  contemporaries :  Bradshaw ;  Milton ;  Marten ;  Scot ;  Blake ; 
Fairfax ;  St.  John  ;  Ireton — Sidney  in  retirement  at  Penshurst— 
Again  visits  the  Hague — John  De  Witt — His  character  as  a 
statesman— Meeting  between  him  and  Sidney--Patriotism  and 
ability  of  De  Witt— His  death — Sidney. returns  from  the  Hague — 
Retires  again  to  Penshurst — His  literary  pursuits — His  amuse- 
ments— Continued  hostility  to  Cromwell  and  his  government — 
Incurs  the  displeasure  of  his  brother,  Lord  Lisle — Letter  of  Lord 
Lisle  to  his  father — ^Downfall  of  the  protectoral  government — Re- 
assembling of  the  Long  Parliament — Sidney  again  a  member  of 
Parliament — In  the  executive  council — Close  of  his  legislative 
career — Reflections  on  the  counter  Revolution.         ...        93 

CHAPTER     IV. 

Appointed  on  the  embassy  to  Denmark  and  Sweden — Importance 
and  nature  of  the  mission— Arrives  at  Copenhagen — Goes  to 
Stockholm — His  conduct  in  the  dis'bharge  of  his  duties  as  ambas- 
sador— Embarrassment  of  Sidney  at  the    Restoration — Letters 


CONTENTS.  V 

Paob 

respecting  it  to  his  father — Progress  and  dose  of  his  negotiations 

—Prepares  to  return  from  Sv.eden — Letters  to  his  father — His 
equivocal  position  with  the  governnnent  at  home — Letters  to  his 
father  respecting  it — Returns  to  Copenhagen — Goes  to  Hamburg 
— Letter  of  Lord  Leicester— Discouraging  prospects  of  Sidney — 
He  abandons  tiie  idea  of  returning  to  England,  and  refuses  to  sub- 
mit to  the  fferms  required  of  him  at  home — Letter  of  Sidney 
from  Hamburgh — Letter  from  Augsburgh — He  acknowledges 
and  justifies  the  offences  charge*!  against  him — His  views  of  the 
act  of  indemnity— Cause  of  the  hostility  of  the  government 
against  Sidney — Letter  of  Sidney  in  respect  to  it — He  submits 
to  voluntary  exile — Conduct  of  the  government  in  the  execution 
of  the  regicides — Scrope,  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig,  and  Lambert 
— Partial  statement  of  Hume  respecting  the  execution  of  the 
regicides — Reflections  on  the  trial  and  execution  of  General 
Harrison — Reasons  of  Sidney^s  refusal  to  return  to  England — His 
letter  to  his  father  on  that  subject — His  views  of  the  govem- 
^  ment  at  home,  and  his  relation  to  it — Letter  to  a  friend.        .         141 

CHAPTER    V. 

Sidney  at  Hamburgh — Interview  with  Queen  Christina — Travels 
through  Europe — Arrives  at  Rome — His  residence  there  and  his 
description  of  it — Various  letters  from  Rome — Cardinal  Pellavi- 
cini — Sidney's  pecuniary  embarrassments  in  Italy — His  despon- 
dency of  mind — Letters  to  his  father — He  removes  to  Frascati — 
His  residence  at  the  villa  of  Belvidere — His  letters  from  that 
place — Seclusion  of  Sidney  from  the  world — His  employments 
and  studies  at  this  period,  and  his  account  of  them — Attempts  of 
some  English  emissaries  to  assassinate  him — He  leaves  Italy — His 
further  travels  in  Europe — Goes  to  Flanders — His  visit  to  Lud- 
low— Attempts  to  enter  into  some  foreign  service,  but  is  thwarted 
by  government — War  between  England  and  Holland  in  1 665 — 
Sidney  at  the  Hague — Counsels  an  invasion  o*f  England— Repairs 
to  France — Views  of  that  government — Its  final  abandonment  of 
the  exiles — Retires  to  an  obscure  residence  in  the  south  of  France 
— Anecdote — Causes  of,  and  circumstances  'attending  his  return — 
Erroneous  views  of  Hume  respecting  it — Sidney  returns  to  Eng- 
land—Death of  his  father, ,        .  168 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    V  I^. 

PAOJI 

Political  views  of  Sidney— His  opinion  of  the  danger  of  a  standing 
army — Project  of  a  war  with  France — Opposition  of  Sidney — 
Corruption  of  the  King— Sidney  charged  with  being  a  pensioner 
of  France — The  charge  examined  and  refuted — Character  of  Ba-  • 
rillon,  and  Sidney's  views  of  it— The  Popish  plot— Sidney's  op- 
position to  Papacy — A  new  Parliament — Sidney  a  candidate — 
Is  defeated  by  the  court— Bill  excluding  the  Duke  of  York  from 
the  throne — Passes  the  House  of  Commons,  and  defeated  in  the 
House  of  Lords — Sidney's  opinions  as  to  the  succession — Treach- 
ery of  the  King  with  the  new  council — Sidney's  letter  to  Neville 
— A  new  Parliament  summoned — Sidney  S  candidate  and  again 
defeated— His  position  with  respect  to  the  court — Attempt  to  in- 
volve him  in  a  conspiracy  of  the  non-conformists — The  King's 
opinion  of  Sidney — Fate  of  the  exclusion  bill — Dissolution  of  Par- 
liament, and  spirited  conduct  of  the  Commons,    ...        *  188 

CHAPTER    VII. 

New  Parliament  summoned  at  Oxford— Differs  with  the  King,  and 
is  dissolved — Proclamation  of  the  King— Pamphlet  of  Sidney  in 
reply — Prosecution  of  College — Shaftesbury — His  character — His 
connection  with  the  popular  party — His  quarrel  with  Sidney — 
Lord  Howard  and  the  Duke  of  Monmouth— Sidney  introduced  to 
the  duke  by  a  fraud  of  Howard— Sidney's  intercourse  with  Mon- 
mouth, Russel,  Essex,  and  Hampden — Nature  of  the  conferences 
between  the  patriots — Council  of  six — Sidney's  connection  with 
it — The  Rye-house  plot— The  conspirators  betrayed  to  the  gov- 
ernment— Rumors  of  Sidney's  connection  with  it — Arrest  of  the 
conspirators — Sidney  arrested — His  conduct  before  the  council — 
Committed  to  the  Tower — Is  waited  upon  by  a  committee  to  be 
examined — Refuses  to  answer  questions — Efforts  to  obtain  evi- 
dence against  him — Arrest  of  Lord  Howard — He  turns  King's 
evidence — Trial  and  execution  of  Lord  Russell — His  life  and 
character — Death  of  Essex — The  court  resolves  to  bring  Sidney 

"  to  trial — Hampden  tried  for  a  misdemeanor  and  convicted — Pre- 
parations for  the  trial  of  Sidney — Difficulties  in  the  way  of  his 
conviction, '  .        .  212 


CONTENTS.  til 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

Paob 

Arraignment  of  Sidney — Lord-  Jeffries  and  his  associates — Sidney 

excepts  to  the  indictment— His  exceptions  overruled — Oppressive 
conduct  of  the  Court— Sidney  forced  to  plead  to  the  indict me§t 
and  remanded  to  prison — Appears  at  the  bar  of  the  King's  Bench 
for  trial — Means  taken  to  secure  his  conviction— Selection  and 
character  of  the  jury— The  judge  refuses  him  a  challenge- 
Sidney  demands  counsel  and  is  refused— The  trial — Oppressive 
and  tyrannical  conduct  of  the  Court— The  evidence — Its  insuffi- 
cient nature— Objections  of  Sidney— They  are  overruled  by  the 
Court— Lord  Howard  of  Escrick — His  character — His  evidence 
— Testimony  of  Foster  and  Atterbury — The  writings  of  Sidney 
introduced  in  evidence — Defence  of  the  prisoner — His  objections 
overruled  by  the  Court — He  introduces  testimony — Impeachment 
of  Lord  Howard — Contest  with  the  Court— Brutal  conduct  of 
Jeffries — Sidney's  argument  to  the  jury — Speech  of  the  Solicitor 
.  General — Charge  of  the  Jud;;e — Verdict  of  the  jury — Surrender 
of  the  Duke  of  Monmouth  after  the  trial — Hopes  of  a  new  trial 
— Petition  of  Sidney  to  the  king — Its  failure — Sentence  of  Sidney 
— Scene  between  the  prisoner  and  the  Court — Heroic  conduct  of 
Sidney — Condemned  to  be  executed — Petition  of  Sidney  to  the 
king  to  commute  liis  sentence  to  banishment— Is  refused — His 
fortitude  and  resolution  in  his  last  hours— Description  of  his  exe- 
cution by  the  sheriff — Is  beheaded — Buried  at  Penshurst — Reflec- 
tions upon  his  trial,  condemnation,  and  execution, .       .        .        •  235 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  writings  of  Sidney — Introductory  remarks — Extracts — Com- 
mon notions  of  liberty  are  derived  from  nature — Men  are  by  na- 
ture free— Choice  of  forms  of  government  originally  left  to  the 
people — The  social  contract  considered — Such  as  enter  into  society 
in  some  degree  diminish  their  liberty — The  natural  equality  of 
man — Virtue  only  gives  a  preference  of  one  man  to  another — 
There  is  no  hereditary  right  of  dominion — Men  join  together  and 
frame  greater  or  less  societies,  and  give  them  such  forms  and  laws 
as  they  please — They  who  have  the  right  of  choosing  a  king, 
have  the  right  of  making  a  king — As  to  the  forms  of  government 


VIU  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

— ^Those  best  which  comprise  the  three  simple  elements — ^Democ- 
racy considered — Sidney  in  favor  of  a  popular  or  mixed  govern- 
ment— Civil  governments  admit  of  changes  ;n  their  superstruc- 
ture— Man's  natural  love  of  liberty  is  tempered  by  reason — 
Seditif)ns,  tumults,  and  wars  considered — In  what  cases  justified — 
When  necessary  to  overthrow  a  tyranny,  or  depose  a  wicked 
magistrate— The  right  of  insurrection  traced  to  the  social  con- 
tract— The  contracts  between  the  magistrates  and  the  nations 
which  created  them  were  real,  solemn,  and  obligatory — Same 
subject  continued — The  general  revolt  of  a  nation  cannot  be 
called  a  rebellion— Duties  of  magistrates  as  representatives  of 
the  people — No  people  that  is  not  free  can  substitute  delegates — 
The  representative  system— Legislative  power  not  to  be  trusted 
in  the  hands  of  any  who  are  not  bound  to  obey  the  laws  they 
make — Reflections  on  the  writings  and  political  opinions  of  Sid- 
ney— The  sincerity  of  his  motives — His  religious  sentiments — 
His  private  character — Conclusion,       ....  •  284 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER. 

The  history  of  England,  whence  our  language,  our 
literature,  our  common  law,  and  some  of  our  noblest 
elementary  institutions  are  derived,  is  second,  in  in- 
terest, only  to  the  history  of  our  own  country.  It  is, 
ill  one  sense,  a  part  of  our  own  history.  The  ances- 
tors of  the  men  who  achieved  the  American  Revolu- 
tion fought  at  Touton  and*at  Bosworth  field  ;  they  sat 
in  the  parliament  of  Henry  VIII.  and  of  Elizabeth. 
Between  the  period  of  the  first  settlement  of  the  colo- 
nies and  the  era  of  American  Independence,  our  own 
history  is  not  only  intimately  blended  with  that  of  the 
mother  country,  but  forms  part  of  it.  Separated  by 
the  waters  of  an  ocean  we  were  still  one  people,  bound 
together  by  a  community  of  interest  as  well  as  a  com- 
mon language,  common  laws,  and  a  common  line- 
age. To  us,  then,  the  history  of  the  British  em- 
pire, the  changes  in  its  government,  the  progress  of 
its  civilization,  its  political  and  social  revolutions,  and 
above  all,  the  character  and  genius  of  the  men  who 
wrought  these  great   changes  and  revolutions,  must 


10  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

always  remain  a  subject  not  only  of  pleasing  interest 
but  of  the  most  instructive  study. 

No  portion  of  the  annals  of  England  deserves  a 
more  close  and  discriminating  perusal  in  a  country 
where  the  principles  of  republicanism  are  established  as 
the  fundamental  basis  of  government,  than  that  which 
records  the  remarkable  event  commonly'  called  the  Re- 
volution. It  properly  embraces  a  period  of  nearly  half 
a  century ;  commencing  with  the  rupture  between 
Charles  I.  and  his  parliament  in  the  year  1640,  and 
ending  with  the  expulsion  of  James  II.,  and  the'  elec- 
tion of  William  and  Mary  to  the  throne,  by  the  par- 
liament, in  the  year  1688.  The  first  twenty  years 
of  this  preiod  is,  undoubtedly,  to  the  republican  reader, 
the  most  striking  chapter  of  English  history,  com- 
prising, as  it  does,  the  record  of  the  downfall  of  the 
ancient  monarchy — the  solemn  judgment  of  the  peo- 
ple upon  a  king  once  almost  absolute — the  temporary 
triumph  of  free  principles — the  establishment  of  a 
republic,  and  its  overthrow  by  a  military  usurper.  It 
was  a  period  rife  with  momentous  events — fertile  of 
remarkable  men.  The  events  of  that  period  have 
been  much  misunderstood  even  on  this  side  the 
Atlantic  ;  the  really  great  men — the  republicans  who 
sought  to  elevate  the  people  by  the  establishment  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  have  been  misrepresented, 
or  what  is,  perhaps,  equally  unjust,  have  been  passed 
over  in  contemptuous  silence.  It  is  true,  the  names 
of  the  illustrious  commoners,  Pym  and  Hampden, 
stand  out  prominent  upon  the  annals  of  that  age  ; 


INTRODUCTOET.  11 

and  so  do  those  of  the  victorious  soldiers,  Cromwell, 
Fairfax,    Ireton,    and   their   associates,  who   headed 
the  parliamentary  army.     The  most  zealous  royalist 
has  not  been  able  to  trace  the   history  of  those  times, 
and  follow  the   mighty  events   which  the  revolutioa 
developed,  without  assigning  to  each  a  place,  a  cha- 
racter, and  a   name.     But  the  less  prominent  sphere 
of  action  of  the  statesmen  and  civilians,  who  estab- 
lished   and    sustained    the  Republic,   has   not   been 
thought  worthy  the  same   particularity  of  narrative; 
and  we  have  been  left,  to  estimate  their  characters,  not 
so   much  from   a  faithful    record  of  their  lives  and 
actions,   as  from  the  partial    and    unjust   judgment 
pronounced  upon  them,  unheard,  by  writers,  who,  like 
Hume,  have  shared  the  opinions,  and  drawn  so  largely 
from    the    narrative   of    that    vengeful    and    bigoted 
royalist.  Lord  Clarendon.     Thus,  some  of  the  purest 
and  noblest  statesmen  that  England,  or  the  world,  has 
produced,  have   been   neglected   and  forgotten,  or,  if 
remembered,  and  a  place  assigned  them  on  the  page 
of  history,  have   been  remembered  only  to  have  their 
characters    misunderstood,    and    their    opinion    con- 
demned or  execrated.     To  many  readers,  even  in  our 
own  country,  scarcely  anything   more  than  th^  mere 
names   are   known  of  such  men   as  Yane,  Bradshaw, 
St.  John,  Scott,  Marten,  Ludlow,  and  Sidney  ;  to  the 
great  majority   of  their  own  countrymen,   for  more 
than   a  century  and  a  half,  most  of  them  have  a  p. 
peared  merely  as  rebels,  fanatics,  and  traitors !     It  is 
the    peculiar    province   of  biography    to    correct   the 


12  ALGEENON   SIDNEY. 

errors,  as  well  as  the  defects,  of  general  history,  iu 
respect  to  the  characters  of  eminent  individuals,  and 
to  rescue  from  unmerited  neglect  and  oblivion,  the 
memory  of  great  and  good  men,  who  have  deserved 
well  of  their  country  and  posperity.  The  present 
biography  is  undertaken  with  this  view.  It  aims  at 
no  higher  object  than  to  rescue  from  obscurity  and 
unmerited  neglect,  the  name,  the  opinions,  and  the 
public  acts  of  one  of  those  noble  Republican  states- 
men whose  memory  deserves  to  be  cherished  forever 
by  the  lovers  of  liberty. 

I  design  to  sketch  the  main  incidents  in  the  lifo 
and  public  career  of  Algernon  Sidney,  so  far  as  they 
are  now  known,  or  can  be  gathered  from  history,  or 
contemporary  annals.  I  shall  present  such  extracts 
from  his  letters,  (many  of  which  have  been  pre- 
served,) and,  also,  from  his  other  writings,  as  will 
serve  to  illustrate  his  character,  his  opinions,  and  his 
history ;  and,  in  order  the  more  fully  to  appreciate 
his  true  position  and  character,  I  shall  notice,  inciden- 
tally, some  of  his  republican  contemporaries  and  asso- 
ciates, who  labored  with  him  in  the  same  glorious 
cause.  Sidney  lived  in  the  stirring  period  of  which  I 
have  spoken  ;  he  was  an  actor  in  the  drama  of  tho 
Revolution  ;  he  commanded  a  regiment  against  the 
king,  under  the  lead  of  Manchester  and  Cromwell; 
he  was  a  member  of  that  famous  legislative  assembly, 
known  in  history  as  the  long  parliament ;  he  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  commission  to  try  the 
king,  and  though  he  did  not  act  in  that  capacity,  yet 


INTRODUCTORT.  13, 

he  never  disavowed  the  principle  of  the  men  who  sat 
with  John  Bradshaw  in  that  tribunal  which  con- 
demned Charles  Stuart  to  death  ;  he  was  the  friend  of 
Bradshaw,  of  Vane,  of  Milton,  of  the  best  and  wisest 
men  of  the  age  :  with  them  he  resisted,  in  vain,  the 
usurpation  of  Cromwell ;  when,  upon  the  restoration 
of  Charles  II.,  liberty  was  proscribed  from  England, 
he  chose  banishment  rather  than  submission  to 
tyranny ;  and  when,  after  a  period  of  seventeen 
years  of  voluntary  exile,  he  returned  to  his  native 
country,  it  was  not  to  recant  an  opinion,  or  seeic  the 
favor  of  government  by  an  abject  confession  of  past 
error  ;  but  to  maintain,  silently,  the  doctrines  of  his 
life,  and,  if  necessary,  to  die  rather  than  renounce 
them. 

Sidney  was  a  pure  and  enlightened  republican 
statesman.  Like  Vane,  he  died  on  the  scaffold,  faith- 
ful among  the  faithless,  and  bearing  witness  in  his 
death  to  the  truth  of  the  principles  he  maintained 
with  inflexible  constancy  through  life.  Had  he  no 
other  history  than  this,  his  name  and  memory  should 
be  cherished  by  the  friends  of  free  institutions.  But 
he  has  a  higher  claim  un  the  admiration  of  posterity. 
It  is  not  merely  in  the  silent  teachings  of  his  fortitude 
upon  the  scaffold,  in  his  heroic  constancy  and  truth 
to  republican  principles,  that  he  has  left  a  salutary 
impression  upon  the  world.  His  precepts,  even  more 
than  his  example,  have  been  eminently  favorable  to 
*the  progress  of  liberty  and  free  institutions.  The 
written  words  he  left  behind  him — those  philosophical 


14  ALGEKNON  SIDNEY. 

reflections  upon  liberty  and  free  institutions — that 
graceful  and  conclusive  argument  in  favor  of  popular 
government  which  his  elaborate  *'  Discourses"  con- 
tain, are  a  rich  legacy,  bequeathed  by  a  master  mind, 
to  his  countrymen  and  the  world. 

Not  only  w^as  Sidney  a  Republican  statesman  and 
patriot,  but  he  was  a  philosopher,  scholar,  and  man 
of  genius.  His  writings,  so  little  appreciated,  and, 
indeed,  in  our  day  so  little  known,  were,  at  one  time, 
extensively  read  and  widely  influential.  The  "  Dis- 
courses on  Government"  was  a  political  text-book 
with  the  fathers  of  our  Republic,  and  the  men  who 
achieved  the  American  Revolution.  Their  influence 
upon  the  minds  of  the  first  statesmen  of  that  age 
is  plainly  apparent.  Between  the  views  of  Sidney, 
and  the  political  doctrines  laid  down  in  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  a  striking  resemblance  can  be 
traced  ;  indeed,  they  are  almost  identical.  A  dis- 
tinguished American  statesman, =^  criticising  the  pre- 
amble to  that  Declaration,  which  he  calls  a  *' hypo- 
thetical truism,"  traces  it  directly,  as  an  abstract  pro- 
position, to  the  writings  of  Sidney  and  Locke.  So 
much  for  the  influence  which  these  writings  have  had 
upon  the  minds  of  our  own  statesmen,  and  inciden- 
tally upon  the  political  character  of  our  government 
It  may  be  added,  that  their  influence  has  extended 
even   to   other   lands.     At   the   dawn  of  the   French 

*  The  late  John  C.  Calhoun.  It  is  proper  to  add,  however,  that  Mr. 
Calhoun's  criticism  is  merely  verbal.  We  do  not  understand  him  as' 
dissenting  from  the  general  principle  of  political  equality  and  rights 
laid  down  in  the  Declaration. 


INTRODTTCTOKT.  15 

Revolution,  when  the  principles  of  popular  liberty- 
were  minutely  investigated  by  the  keenest  intellects 
of  the  age,  Sidney's  Discourses  were  republished,  and, 
with  the  writings  of  Rousseau,  contributed  to  the 
awakening  of  the  revolutionary  mind  of  France. 

These  writings,  once  so  highly  prized  as  to  be 
thought  adequate  to  supply  the  loss  of  Cicero's  six 
books  de  Republican  have,  in  our  day,  sunk  into 
obscurity,  if  not  oblivion.  Perhaps  they  have  ful- 
filled their  mission,  and,  with  the  writings  of  Bacon, 
have  become  obsolete,  and  are  passing  away.  It 
may  be  so  ;  but  their  influence,  like  the  thoughts  of 
Bacon,  will  live  for  ages  to  come.  Nor  is  the  task  an 
unpleasing  one  to  remove  the  dust  of  three  quarters 
of  a  century  from  these  almost  forgotten  volumes, 
and  to  bring  them  anew  before  the  public.  If  not  a 
study  of  practical  utility  in  an  age  like  ours,  so  rich 
in  lessons  of  political  philosophy,  and  in  the  science 
of  government  so  far  in  advance  of  the  age  in  which 
Sidney  wrote,  still  it  cannot  fail  to  be  a  matter  of 
curiosity  to  note  the  bold  speculations,  as  well  as  just 
conclusions,  of  a  political  writer,  educated  under  an 
arbitrary  government  like  that  of  Charles  I. ;  and 
who,  if  not  the  very  first,  was  amongst  the  foremost 
in  modern  Europe  to  assert  and  defend  the  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  political  liberty ;  and  our  curi- 
osity is  enhanced,  and  our  interest  increased,  by  the 
reflection  -that  we  are  perusing  the  words  which 
awakened  the  intellect,  and  confirmed  the  political 
faith,  of  the  sages  of  our  own  Revolution.     The  ven- 


16  ALGEEIfOIT  SIDNEY. 

erable  John  Adams,  in  his  elaborate  and  now  almost 
forgotten  treatise  in  defence  of  "  the  Constitutions  of 
Government  of  the  United  States  of  America,"  pub- 
lished in  London  in  the  year  1788,  speaking  of  these 
Discourses  of  Sidney,  in  connection  with  the  writings 
of  Harrington,  Milton,  Locke,  and  other  champions 
of  popular  government,  says,  *' Americans  should 
make  collections  of  all  these  speculations,  to  be  pre- 
served as  the  most  precious  relics  of  antiquity,  both 
for  curiosity  and  use.  There  is  one  indispensable 
rule  to  be  observed  in  the  perusal  of  all  of  them,  and 
that  is  to  consider  the  period  in  which  they  were 
written,  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  and  the  per- 
sonal character  as  well  as  the  political  situation  of  the 
writer." 

Another  reflection  may  here  be  properly  made.  It 
is  one  calculated  still  further  to  enhance  the  value  of 
this  last  legacy  of  Sidney  to  his  countrymen.  He 
literally  proved  a  martyr,  and  died  for  the  principles 
advocated  in  these  Discourses.  A  portion  of  them, 
or  of  similar  works,  found  in  manuscript  in  his  closet, 
was  produced  as  evidence  against  him  on  his  trial,  as 
we  shall  see  when  we  come  to  speak  more  particularly 
of  that  event.  Two  witnesses  were  necessary,  by  the 
law  of  England,  in  order  to  convict  for  treason.  Only 
one  was  found  against  Sidney,  and  these  manuscripts 
were  held  equivalent  to  another !  To  the  modest 
remonstrance  that  there  was  nothing  treasonable  in 
the  writings,  the  Chief  Justice  Jeffries,  replied, 
**  There  is  not  a  line  in  it  scarce,  but  what  is  trea- 


INTRODUCTORY.  17 

son  ;"  and  immediately  added,  "  That  is  the  worst  part 
of  your  case.  When  men  become  so  riveted  in  their 
opinions  as  to  maintain  that  kings  may  be  deposed, 
that  they  are  accountable  to  their  people,  and  that  a 
general  insurrection  is  no  rebellion,  and  justify  it,  it 
is  high  time,  upon  my  word,  to  call  them  to  ac- 
count." 

And,  for  holding  opinions  like  these,  but  little 
more  than  a  century  and  a  half  ago  in  England, 
Algernon  Sidney  was  found  guilty  of  high  treason, 
and  adjudged  to  die  !  But  the  principles  for  which 
he  suffered  did  not  die  with  him.  A  few  years  later 
they  were  asserted,  and  triumphantly  maintained,  in 
that  Revolution  which  drove  the  tyrant  James  from 
his  throne.  The  king  was  deposed,  and  called  to 
account  by  the  people  ;  and  not  only  was  the  g'cneral 
insurrection,  which  Sidney  had  truly  held  to  be  no 
rebellion,  solemnly  legalized,  but  the  original  compact 
between  the  monarch  and  his  subjects  was  recognized 
by  act  of  Parliament.  It  was  not  until  after  this 
memorable  event,  during  the  reign  of  William  and 
Mary,  and  in  the  year  1698,  that  the  *'  Discourses  on 
Government"  were  first  published,  and  read  by  Eng- 
lish statesmen. 

The  name  of  Algernon  Sidney  is  not  an  obscure 
one.*  Associated  with  "that  of  Russell,  as  a  martyr 
for  liberty,  it  has  come  down  with  honor  to  our  day. 
Yet  the  remark  previously  made  holds  true,  that  we 
are  able  to  derive  from  general  history  but  an  imper- 
fect view  of  the  career,  the  opinions,  and  the  cha- 


18  ALGEKNOIT  SIDNEY. 

racter  of  this  eminent  republican.  Tradition,  rather 
than  history,  has  preserved  the  memory  of  his  virtues 
and  his  genius.  Hume  makes  mention  of  him  as  a 
"singular  person,"  wedded  to  his  one  idea  of  a  re- 
public. He  gives  a  very  fair  and  impartial  account 
of  his  trial  and  condemnation,  which  he  justly  con- 
siders a  blemish  upon  the  administration  ;  but,  ir  is 
evident  that  Hume,  if  he  understood,  was  not  the 
man  to  appreciate  such  a  character  as  that  of  Sidney. 
Other  historians  occasionally  allude  to  him  ;  but  with 
the  exception  of  his  trial,  we  find  nowhere  any  cir- 
cumstantial account  of  his  private  life  or  public 
career,  save  in  the  brief  and  imperfect  sketch  by 
Collins  in  his  "  Memoirs  of  the  Sidneys,"  printed  in 
1746,  and  in  the  narrative  of  an  enthusiastic  admirer, 
Mr.  Meadley,  published  in  Londoh  in  the  year  1813; 
a  work,  we  imagine,  n&ver  much  known  among  us, 
and  now  almost  forgotten  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
To  these  may  be  added  the  "  Brief  Memoir"  by 
Richard  Chase  Sidney,  also  published  in  London,  con- 
taining the  substance  of  Mead  ley's  narrative,  with  a 
short  account  of  Sidney's  trial,  and  a  description  of 
Stephanofl[''s  celebrated  painting  of  that  event.  These, 
we  believe,  are  all  the  writers  who  have  as  yet  under- 
taken to  sketch  the  life  of  this  celebrated  man.  The 
materials  for  a  complete  biogfaphy  are,  therefore,  not 
very  abundant.  The  most  valuable,  as  well  as  reli- 
able, are  those  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  large 
volume  containing  his  "  Discourses,"  published  at 
the   same    time    with  Harrington's  "  Oceana."      In. 


INTEODUCTOET.  19 

this  volume  we  find  all  his  letters  which  had 
then  been  discovered,* — the  paper  containing  his  de- 
fence, which  he  delivered  to  the  sheriff  on  Tower 
Hill — his  adnriirable  "  Apology,''  written  just  before 
his  execution,  and  a  nninute  and  circumstantial  ac- 
count of  his  trial  and  condemnation.  From  these 
papers,  together  with  the  account  of  such  writers  and 
historians  as  have  made  mention  of  him,  we  are  to 
gather  the  facts  necessary  to  present  a  connected 
account  of  his  life  and  public  career,  and  which  will 
enable  us  the  better  to  appreciate  the  character  of  his 
genius,  the  constancy  and  heroism  of  his  nature,  and 
the  singular  inflexibility  of  his  purpose  and  opinions. 

*  The  two  works  above  mentioned  contain  extracts  from  other  let- 
ters of  Sidney,  discovered  subsequently  to  the  publication  of  the  editioa 
of  1772. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

Family  of  Sidney — His  Birth  and  Early  Education — Travels  with  his 
Father  on  the  Continent — Goes  to  France— Returns  to  England  in 
1641— Commencement  of  the  Civil  War— Appointed  to  the  Command 
of  a  Troop  in  Ireland— Serves  in  Ireland^Returns  to  England  in  1643 
— His  Polit  leal  Sentiments  at  this  Time — Enters  into  the  Service  of 
Parliament — Appointed  a  Colonel  under  JVlanchester — Battle  of 
Naseby — Sidney  Wounded,  and  sent  to  London — Appointed  Governor 
of  Chichester — Retires  from  Active  Service — Progress  of  the  Civil 
War— The  Independents  get  Control  of  the  Army — Sidney  ap- 
pointed Colonel  under  Fairfax — Elected  Member  of  Long  Parliament 
— Goes  with  his  Brother  to  Ireland — Appointed  Lieutenant-General 
and  Governor  of  Dublin — Service  in  Ireland — His  Return — Receives 
the  Thanks  of  Parliament — Appointed  Governor  of  Dover  Castle — 
Reflections  on  his  Military  Cju-eer. 

The  family  of  Algernon  Sidney*  was  one  of  the  most 
ancient  and  honorable  in  England.  It  was  a  branch 
of  the  old  Norman  aristocracy.  His  ancestor,  Sir 
William  Sidney,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  had  accom- 
panied the  king  from  Anjou,  as  his  chamberlain.     A 

*  The  name  is  "  Sydney^^  as  found  subscribed  to  his  published  letters. 
It  is  so  also  subscribed  by  Sir  Philip  Sidriey  to  his  will.  Sir  Philip,  as 
a  correspondent,  wrote  it  "  Sidney"  or  "  Sydney,"  as  the  fancy  of  the 
moment  prevailed  with  him.  The  former  appears  to  be  the  modern 
orthography,  which  I  have  preferred  to  retain. 


CHAPTER   T.  21 

lineal  descendant  of  this  Sir  William  Sidney,  of  the 
same  name,  was  tutor  to  Edward  YI.,  who,  in  the 
year  1552,  rewarded  his  services  with  the  forfeited 
park  and  manor  of  Penshurst  in  Kent.  This  was  the 
family  seat  of  the  Sidneys.  Here  resided  Sir  Henry 
Sidney,  the  son  and  heir  of  the  last  Sir  William,  for 
many  years  Governor  of  Ireland,  and  a  name  honorably 
mentioned  in  history.  His  eldest  son  was  the  cele- 
brated Sir  Philip  Sidney,  author  of  the  pastoral 
romance  of  Arcadia,  the  favorite  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  nephew  to  Dudley  the  powerful  Earl  of  Leicester, 
who  feasted  the  Queen  in  his  castle  of  Ken il worth, 
and,  it  said,  aspired  to  the  hand  of  his  royal  mistress. 

Sir  Philip  Sidney  was  mortally  wounded  at  the 
battle  of  Zutphen,  and  dying  a  few  days  afterwards, 
the  family  estate  passed  to  his  brother  Robert,  who  was 
created  by  James  I.  Baron  Sidney  of  Penshurst,  and 
subsequently  Viscount  Lisle  and  Earl  of  Leicester. 
Thij  nobleman  was  succeeded  in  1626  by  his  soa 
Robert,  the  second  Earl  of  Leicester  of  this  family, 
and  the  father  of  Algernon  Sidney.  Lord  Leicester 
was  married  in  the  year  1618  to  Dorothy,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland.  He  was  a 
nobleman  of  gjreat  distinction,  and  much  employed  in 
diplomatic  and  other  public  business  during  the  reign 
of  Charles  L 

Algernon  Sidney,  born  in  the  year  1622,  was  the 
second  son  of  this  nobleman.  He  was  named  after 
his  maternal   uncle,    Algernon, =*   Lord    Percy.       His 

*  The  name  seems  originally  to  have  been  written  Algemoon. 


23  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

early  education,  the  best  and  most  accomplished  that 
the  times  afforded,  was  carefully  conducted  by  his 
father,  who  himself  was  a  man  of  e'xtensive  and  varied 
acquirements.  In  1632,  the  Earl  of  Leicester  was 
sent  ambassador  to  Denmark.  He  took  with  him  his 
two  eldest  sons,  Philip,  Lord  Lisle,  and  Algernon,  in 
order  that  he  might  the  more  carefully  superintend 
their  education.  After  an  absence  of  three  months, 
during  which  time  he  visited  various  courts  and  cities 
on  the  continent,  he  returned  to  England.  In  the 
year  1636  he  was  appointed  ambassador  extraordinary 
to  France.  Still  pursuing  his  design  of  personally 
superintending  the  education  of  his  sons,  and  of  giving 
them  every  advantage  of  study  and  travel,  he  again  per- 
mitted them  to  accompany  him  on  his  mission.  The 
mind  of  young  Sidney  was  rapidly  maturing,  and  the 
progress  he  made  in  his  studies  repaid  the  utmost  care 
and  attention  of  his  father.  He  was  distinguished, 
even  at  this  early  period  of  life  for  his  placid  and 
manly  temper  and  his  sprightly  wit.  In  a  letter 
written  about  this  time  by  his  mother  to  her  husband, 
she  mentions  with  evident  pride  the  favorable  reports 
that  some  friends  who  had  lately  returned  from  Paris 
brought  with  them  concerning  her  son,  that  "  he  had 
a  huge  deal  of  wit,  and  much  sweetness  of  temper." 
The  serenity  of  temper  and  the  calm  and  placid  dis- 
position which  characterized  Sidney  in  his  later  as 
well  as  his  earlier  years,  are  said  to  have  been  strik- 
ingly exhibited  in  the  features  of  his  portrait  at  Pens- 


CHAPTER  I.  23 

hurst,  painted  at  Brussels,  in  1663,  and  forwarded 
thence  by  him  to  his  father. 

The  Earl  of  J^eicestRr  reniained  several  years  in 
France.  During  this  time  Algernon  visited  Rome, 
then  under  the  government  of  the  PontifT  Urban  VII., 
where  he  resided  some  time.  In  1689,  the  earl 
returned  to  England  on  a  temporary  visit,  and  was 
present  at  the  marriage  of  his  eldest  daughter  Dorothy, 
the  Sachanssa  of  the  poet  Waller.*.  This  lady  was 
married  to  Lord  Spencer,  afterwards  Earl  of  Sunder- 
land, who  was  killed  in  the  civil  wars  at  the  battle  of 
Newbury.  His  son,  the  nephew  of  Sidney,  w^as  that 
Earl  of  Sunderland  who  was  distinguished  in  the 
councils  of  Charles  II.  The  celebrated  Marquis  of 
Halifax,  whose  name  is  so  well  known  as  a  statesman 
and  politician  of  the  same  reign,  was  also  a  nephew  of 
Sidnpy  by  marriage. 

The  Earl  soon  after  returned  to  Paris,  w^here  it 
seems  his  son  Algernon  remained,  closely  engage! 
in  the  prosecution  of  his  studies.  Being  designed  for 
the  army,  an  application  was  now  made  on  his  behalf 
by  his  uncle,  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  to  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  for  a  commission  in  the  Dutch  service,  but 
the  commission  having  been  previously  disposed  of, 
young  Sidney  w^as  obliged  to  remain  without  employ- 

*  Dr.  Johnson  states  that  Waller's  ^eTses  did  not  subdue  the  high- 
born and  beautiful  lady,  who  rejected  the  addresses  of  the  humble  poet 
with  disdain.  In  her  old  age,  meeting  somewhere  with  Waller,  she 
asked  him  when  he  would  again  write  such  verses  upon  her.  *•  When 
you  are  as  young,  Madame,"  said  he,  "and  as  handsome  as  you  were 
then" 


'24  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

ment  in  Paris,  till  the  final  return  of  his  father  to 
England,  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1641. 

Tt  was  at  this  period,  the  most  ijventful  crisis  in 
English  history,  that  his  active  life  commenced.  The 
Long  Parliament  had  been  in  session  a  year,  and  the 
seeds  of  that  great  revolution  which  was  about  to 
convulse  England  were  fast  taking  root.  Pym  had 
brought  forward  his  famous  accusation  against  the 
Earl  of  Strafford,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and  the 
head  of  that  unfortunate  minister  had  rolled  from  the 
scaffold,  a  victim  to  the  popular  justice,  or  the  popular 
vengeance.  The  successor  chosen  to  take  the  place  of 
Strafford  in  the  government  of  Ireland,  was  the  Earl 
of  Leicester.  Various  causes  combined  to  delay  the 
departure  of  that  nobleman  for  Ireland,  notwithstand- 
ing his  presence  was  imperatively  demanded  there. 
The  Irish  rebellion,  as  it  was  called,  had  broken 
out.  It  was  general,  terrific,  and  devastating.  Almost 
the  entire  English  population  were  massacred  under 
circumstances  of  horrid  barbarity  and  cruelty.  The 
Earl  of  Leicester,  then,  according  to  Hume,  in  London, 
being  prevented  himself  from  repairing  to  the  scene  of 
action,  dispatched  his  eldest  son,  Lord  Lisle,  in  com- 
mand of  his  own  regiment,  to  reduce  the  insurgents. 
In  this  regiment,  Algernon  Sidney,  then  in  his  nine- 
teenth year,  had  command  of  a  troop.  This  was  his 
entrance  into  military  service.  In  various  actions  and 
skirmishes  fought  with  the  insurgents,  he  is  reported 
to  have  behaved  with  extraordinary  spirit  and  resolu- 
tion.    The  war,  however,  dragged  slowly  along.    Sid- 


CHAPTER   I.  2$ 

ney  and  his  brother  awaited  in  vain  the  appearance  of 
their  father  in  Ireland.  The  king  had  too  much  upon 
his  hands  at  home  to  prosecute  vigorously  the  war 
against  his  subjects  across  the  channel.  He  had 
already  unfolded  the  royal  standard  against  his  Parlia- 
ment, and  the  civil  war  had  actually  commenced  on 
the  22d  of  August,  1642.  Sidney's  maternal  uncle, 
the  powerful  Earl  of  Northumberland,  adhered  to  the 
cause  of  the  Parliament,  his  father  to  that  of  the 
king.  After  a  year's  delay,  Leicester  obtained  his 
dispatch  for  Ireland.  Preparing  to  embark,  he  re- 
ceived a  peremptory  order  to  remain.  Another  year's 
delay  ensued  ;  Leicester  was  deprived  of  his  govern- 
ment, upon  which  he  retired  to  Penshurst,  where  he 
remained  in  seclusion  during  the  rest  of  his  life. 

Meanwhile,  it  seems.  Lord  Lisle  and  Sidney,  from 
the  activity  and  zeal  displayed  by  them  against  the 
insurgents,  had  incurred  the  jealousy  of  the  advisers 
of  the  king.  Finding  a  longer  service  in  Ireland  irk- 
some, they  obtained  leave  of  the  king,  with  the  per- 
mission of  their  father,  to  return  to  England. 

On  arriving  at  Chester,  in  August,  1643,  some  of 
their  horses  were  taken  from  them  by  the  royalists, 
which  caused  them  immediately  to  put  out  again  to 
Rea.  It  appears  they  were  suspected  by  both  parties, 
for  on  their  second  landing,  at  Liverpool,  they  were 
detained,  with  their  arms  and  property,  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Parliament.  A  letter  written  at 
this  time  by  Sidney  to  one  Bridgeman,  a  royalist,  at 
Chester,  demanding  a  restoration  of  their  horses,  re- 
2 


26  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

veals  his  intention  of  proceeding  at  once  to  his  father 
at  Oxford,  then  in  the  hands  of  the  king.  This  letter 
being  discovered,  fresh  instructions  were  given  by  the 
Parliament  to  detain  the  brothers  in  custody,  and  they 
were  subsequently  sent  up  under  arrest  to  London. 
The  king  spoke  very  harshly  and  severely  of  their  con- 
duct, and  even  intimated  that  the  whole  affair  was  a 
contrivance  on  the  part  of  the  brothers.  This  accusa- 
tion, doubtless,  had  a  tendency  to  fix  their  sentiments 
the  more  strongly  in  opposition  to  the  royal  cause. 

Thus  far  Sidney  had  taken  no  active  part  in  the 
struggle  between  the  king  and  the  Parliament ;  we 
are  therefore  left  in  some  doubt  as  to  his  sentiments 
in  respect  to  the  merits  of  the  controversy  prior  to 
his  return  to  England.  At  the  beginning,  of  his 
service  in  Ireland,  the  struggle  had  not  yet  com- 
menced. Even  after  the  royal  standard  had  been 
raised  at  Nottingham,  the  reduction  of^  the  Irish  in- 
surgents was  the  common  object  of  both  parties, 
the  Parliament  as  well  as  the  king.  It  is  not  there- 
fore to  be  inferred  from  his  service  in  Ireland,  that  he 
was  a  partisan  of  the  king.  On  the  contrary,  various 
circumstances  would  lead  to  a  directly  opposite  con- 
clusion. The  character  of  Sidney  was  already  formed 
and  his  opinions,  always  firm,  even  as  has  been 
charged,  to  obstinacy,  were  matured.  It  is  not  to  bo 
supposed  that  he  wavered  for  a  moment  in  his  choice 
between  the  popular  and  the  absolute  party,  far  less 
that  he  adhered  to  the  king,  and  subsequently  changed 
sides  to  the  Parliament.     In  corroboratioa  of  this  opi- 


CHAPTER   I.  '  27 

nion,  that  Sidney  was  from  the  first  an  advocate  of  the 
popular  cause,  his  own  solemn  declaration  may  be 
cited  as  found  in  the  able  paper  he  drew  up  imme- 
diately before  his  execution.^*^  He  commences  by  say- 
ing, that  from  his  youth  up  he  endeavored  to  uphold 
*'  the  common  rights  of  mankind,  the  laws  of  the 
land,  and  the  true  Protestant  religion,  against  corrupt 
principles,  arbitrary  power,  and  popery.'*  And  then 
adds — "  I  am  no  ways  ashamed  to  note  that  from  the 
year  1642  till  the  coming  in  of  the  king,  I  did  prose- 
cute tho  above  principles." 

On  arriving  at  London,  Sidney  and  his  brother  gave 
in  their  adhesion  to  the  Parliament,  and  actively  en- 
listed in  behalf  of  the  popular  cause — a  cause  to 
which  the  former  at  least  never  proved  recreant  to  the 
day  of  his  death.  Sidney  at  once  volunteered  his  ser- 
vices in  the  parliamentary  army,  and  on  the  10th  of 
May,  1644,  the  Earl  of  Manchester  appointed  him  to 
the  command  of  a  troop  of  horse  in  his  own  regiment. 
The  war  between  the  king  and  Parliament  was  now 
carried  on  with  great  animation  on  both  sides.  Thus 
far  indeed,  success  seemed  to  favor  the  royalists. 
The  great  parliamentary  leader,  Pym,  was  dead. 
Hampden  had  fallen  in  battle.  Waller  had  been 
routed,  and  his  army  dispersed.  Bristol  had  opened 
her  gates  to  the  victorious  arms  of  Prince  Rupert, 
and  G-loucester  was  invested,  but  still  held  out  under 
the  heroic  Massey,  against  the  arms  of  the  king. 
Such  was  the  aspect  of  affairs  during  the  campaign  of 

*  His  "  Apology  in  the  Day  of  his  Death." 


28  ALGKRNOK   SIDKET. 

1643.  Toward  the  close  of  that  year,  however,  mat- 
ters were  a  little  improved.  The  army  under  Essex 
marched  successfully  to  the  relief  of  Grloucester.  One 
or  two  spirited  and  brilliant  actions  fought  by  Fairfax 
and  Cromwell — names  then  fast  rising  to  distinction — 
turned  the  scale  of  battle  in  that  quarter  against  the 
royalists.  The  genius  and  address  of  Vane  had  suc- 
ceeded in  carrying,  with  the  Scottish  commissioners, 
"  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,"  in  pursuance  of 
which,  early  in  the  year  1644,  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand  Scots  had  crossed  the  Tweed  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Parliament.  Still  it  must  be  admitted 
that  this  campaign  opened  under  unfavorable  auspices 
to  the  parliamentarians 

It  is  at  this  period  that  we  find  Sidney  joining  the 
army  under  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  who  was  then 
levying  a  force  in  the  eastern  counties  to  oppose  the 
victorious  royalists.  He  had  collected  a  body  of  four- 
teen thousand  men.  Oliver  Cromwell,  already  the 
greatest  soldier  of  the  age,  served  under  him  as  Lieu- 
tenant-General,  with  his  own  troop  of  stern  and  de- 
termined men,  the  nucleus  of  that  famous  army  which 
he  afterwards  commanded  in  chief,  whose  proud  boast 
it  was  that  no  enemy  had  ever  seen  their  backs.  "We 
do  not  design,  however,  to  trace  the  conduct  of  the 
war,  or  even  of  this  campaign,  further  than  as  con- 
nected with  the  career  of  Sidney.  It  is  stated  that 
he  was  in  several  actions,  in  all  of  which  he  conduct- 
ed himself  with  great  gallantry.  We  do  not,  however, 
find  any  positive  mention  made  of  but  one — the  battle 


CHAPTER  I.  29 

of  York,  or  more  properly  speaking,  the  battle  of  Mar- 
ston  Moor,  fought  near  that  city.  This  was  one  of 
the  most  important  and  best  contested  actions  of  the 
war  The  number  of  combatants  was  greater  than  in 
any  preceding  action,  and  the  result  was  decisive. 
Lord  Fairfax  and  his  more  illustrious  son.  Sir  Thomas 
Fairfax,  had  been  ordered  to  join  the  Scottish  army, 
under  Leven,  and  after  the  juncture  had  laid  siege  to 
the  city  of  York,  a  place  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  the  royalists.  Here,  by  a  brilliant  movement,  the 
army,  under  Manchester  and  Cromwell,  had  efFected  a 
junction  with  that  of  Fairfax.  The  combined  armies 
numbered  not  far  from  twenty-five  thousand  men. 
The  Earl  of  Newcastle,  the  most  accomplished  and 
able  commander  of  the  royalists,  held  the  city  against 
the  besiegers.  A  series  of  irregular  sorties  and  attacks 
had  been  made,  but  without  decii^ive  success,  though 
it  was  evident  that  unless  relief  arrived,  the  city  must 
capitulate.  But  relief  was  nearer  than  the  garrison 
imagined.  Suddenly  Prince  Rupert,  at  the  head  of  a 
brilliant  army  of  20,000  men,  appeared  in  sight  of  the 
walls  of  York.  Fairfax  attempted  to  intercept  their 
march,  but  failed,  and  the  glittering  pikes  of  Rupert's 
cavaliers  were  soon  after  seen  defiling  through  the 
narrow  gates  of  the  besieged  city.  All  hopes  of  the 
reduction  of  the  city  were  of  course  at  once  abandon- 
ed. The  parliamentary  army  raised  the  siege  and  fell 
back.  Meanwhile  a  difference  of  counsels  arose  in 
each  army.  The  fiery  and  impatient  Rupert  was  for 
giving  immediate  battle,  but  the  cooler  and  more  skil- 


30  ALGERNON    SIDNEY. 

ful  Newcastle  counselled  delay.  Rupert,  headstrong 
and  violent  as  ever,  relying  on  the  express  conrimission 
of  the  king,  and  arrogantly  assuming  an  air  of  supe- 
riority over  his  associates,  deternnined  to  take  the  re- 
sponsibility of  some  daring  achievement  upon  himself 
and  gave  orders  for  action.  Newcastle  listened  in 
silence,  and  smiled  in  scorn  at  Rupert's  vaunted 
boasts  over  the  inferiority  of  his  adversaries,  and  those 
adversaries  the  soldiers  of  Fairfax  and  Cromwell  !  Ho 
was  advised  to  take  no  part  in  an  action  where  the  com- 
mand was  taken  from  him  ;  but  he  declined  the  ad- 
vice, and  going  into  the  action,  as  he  said,  a  volunteer, 
he  resolved  to  die  as  he  had  lived,  a  loyal  subject. 
Such  instances  of  chivalrio  spirit  and  high-toned 
honor,  go  far  to  redeem  a  cause  that  has  very  little 
else  in  it  to  enlist  the  popular  sympathy. 

la  the  parliamentary  army  a  like  difference  of 
opinion  existed.  The  cautious  Scottish  commanders, 
who  had  not  yet  learned  the  temper  and  mettle  of 
Fairfax's  pikemen  and  Cromwell's  Ironsides,  were  for 
retreating.  Not  so  most  of  the  English  officers,  who 
had  declared  for  battle.  It  may  well  be  imagined  that 
none  was  more  ardent  and  eager  for  action  than 
young  Sidney.  These  counsels,  however,  were  tem- 
porarily overruled,  and  the  parliamentary  army  aban- 
doning their  position,  slowly  and  sullenly  retreated  on 
the  road  to  Tadcaster.  Scarcely  had  they  marched 
eight  miles  from  the  city  of  York,  when  several  troops 
of  Rupert's  cavalry  assailed  the  rear  of  the  retreat- 
ing army.     The   parliamentarians   found  themselves 


CHAPTER  I.  31 

obliged  to  fight  ;  the  command  to  halt  ran  along  the 
lines,  and  countermanding  the  order  to  march,  the 
army  fell  back  upon  Marston  Moor.  That  night, 
50,000  of  the  best  soldiers  in  England,  on  both 
sides  commanded  with  equal  valor,  under  the  lead 
of  the  most  renowned  generals  of  the  nation,  lay  en- 
camped near  the  field  of  Marston  Moor  ready  to  com- 
mence a  contest  that  should  decide  the  fate  of  the 
monarchy.  In  the  one  camp,  dimly  through  the  star- 
light, were  to  be  seen  the  banners  of  Newcastle,  Rupert, 
and  Goring,  around*  which  rung  out  the  notes  of 
gayety,  and  the  festive  and  joyous  voices,  of  the 
cavaliers  already  anticipating  an  easy  victory.  In  the 
other,  the  blue  banner  of  the  covenanters  drooped 
lazily  from  its  staff,  around  which  cluJitcred  Leven's 
Scottish  infantry  ;  the  ever  vigilant  Fairfax,  and  the 
cool  and  steady  Manchester,  were  making  their  pre- 
parations for  the  morrow  ;  while  from  CromwelPs  en- 
campment arose  the  constant  voice  of  pious  exhorta- 
tion, of  psalmody,  and  of  prayer.  On  the  morning  of 
the  2d  of  July  both  armies  prepared  for  action.  A 
large  ditch  or  drain  ran  in  front  of  a  portion  of  the 
army  of  the  parliament.  The  centre  was  under  the 
command  of  the  Lords  Fairfax  and  Leven.  On  the 
right,  which  was  broken  and  somewhat  protected  by 
natural  fences  and  lanes,  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  was 
stationed.  Cromwell  and  Manchester  held  the  left, 
which  was  a  barren  waste  terminating  in  a  moor. 
On  the  other  hand.  Prince  Rupert  himself  took  his 
position  opposite  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  while  Cromwell 


32  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

and  Manchester  on  the  left,  were  opposed  by  several 
infantry  brigades  supported  by  Goring's  cavalry. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  arrangements 
were  completed ;  the  battle  commenced  at  seven. 
Manchester's  infantry  moved  upon  the  drain,  where, 
while  vainly  endeavoring  to  form,  they  were  mowed 
down  in  heaps  by  a  murderous  fire  from  the  royalist 
musketeers  and  cannon.  Goring  immediately  pre- 
pared to  charge  with  his  cavalry,  and  rapidly  advanced 
for  that  purpose  ;  but,  ere  he  could  approach  the  dis- 
ordered ranks  of  Manchester,  a  terrible  assailant  en- 
countered him.  The  horse  of  Cromwell  had  wheeled 
round  the  right  of  the  ditch,  and  fell  full  upon  Groring's 
flank.  The  charge,  though  momentary,  was  decisive. 
Goring's  cavalry  were  routed,  and  fled  in  every  direc- 
tion. Cromwell  turning  upon  the  cannoniers,  sabred 
them  at  their  guns,  and  completing  the  total  defeat  of 
the  right  wing  of  the  royalists,  marched  leisurely  back 
to  his  position.  It  was  at  this  point  of  the  army  that 
Sidney,  now  raised  to  the  rank  of  colonel,  commanded. 
Honorable  mention  is  made  of  his  conduct  during  the 
action,  in  the  old  parliamentary  chronicles  of  the  day. 
"  Colonel  Sidney,  also,  son  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester, 
charged  with  much  gallantry  in  the  head  of  my  Lord 
of  Manchester's  regiment  of  horse,  and  came  off  with 
many  wounds,  the  true  badges  of  his  honor."  It  is 
stated  in  the  annals  of  the  day,  that  after  Sidney  had 
been  dangerously  wounded  and  was  within  the  enemy's 
power,  a  soldier  stepped  out  of  Col.  Cromwell's  regi- 
ment, and  rescuing  him  from  his  perilous  position, 


CHAPTEB  I.  S5 

carried  him  to  a  place  of  safety.  Sidney  desired  to 
know  the  nanne  of  his  preserver  in  order  that  he  might 
reward  him,  but  the  soldier,  one  of  those  stern  zealots 
whom  Cromwell  had  gathered  around  him,  told  him 
that  he  had  not  saved  him  for  the  sake  of  obtaining 
any  reward,  and  refusing  to  disclose  his  name,  re- 
turned to  his  place  in  the  ranks. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  right  wing,  Fairfax  had  been 
driven  back  under  the  impetuous  charge  of  Prince 
Rupert,  who,  believing  the  day  won,  followed  up  his 
advantage  too  eagerly  and  too  far.  Turning  to  break 
the  centre  of  the  parliamentary  force,  and  complete 
what  he  believed  to  be  his  victory,  he  suddenly  en- 
countered Cromwell,  who  had  simultaneously  charged 
and  defeated  the  centre  of  the  royalists.  The  shock 
was  tremendous,  and  for  a  while  the  battle  raged  with 
intense  fury.  Cromwell,  though  wounded  in  the 
neck,  still  kept  the  field,  and  urged  on  in  person  his 
stern  and  enthusiastic  followers.  The  result  of  such 
a  contest  could  not  long  be  doubtful.  The  troopers  of 
Cromwell  soon  swept  in  triumph  over  the  bloody  field. 
Rupert  was  driven  back  with  great  loss,  and  the  vie* 
tory  declared  decisively  for  the  parliamentarians. 
At  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  action  was  at  an 
end.  The  victory  was  complete.  Besides  the  slain, 
fifteen  hundred  royalist  prisoners  were  taken,  together 
with  all  their  artillery,  baggage,  and  military  stores. 
The  appearance  presented  by  the  field  is  strikingly 
described  by  an  accomplished  author,  whoso  narrative 
of  a  battle  which  has  been  differently  related,  has 


34:  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

been  in  the  main  followed  here.*  *'  It  was  10  o'clock, 
and  by  the  melancholy  dusk  which  enveloped  the  moor, 
might  be  seen  a  fearful  sight.  Five  thousand  dead 
bodies  of  Englishmen  lay  heaped  upon  that  fatal 
ground.  The  distinction  which  separated  in  life  these 
sons  of  a  common  country  seemed  trifling  now  !  The 
plumed  helmet  embraced  the  strong  steel  cap,  as  they 
rolled  on  the  heath  together,  and  the  loose  love-locks 
of  the  careless  cavaliers  lay  drenched  in  the  dark  blood 
of  the  enthusiastic  republican."  Soon  after  York 
opened  her  gates,  and  a  large  part  of  the  north  of 
England  submitted  to  the  authority  of  the  Parliament. 
The  same  authority  which  makes  such  honorable 
mention  of  Col.  Sidney's  heroism  and  gallantry  in  this 
battle,  informs  us  also  that  he  was  afterwards  sent  to 
London,  "  for  the  cure  of  his  wounds."  We  do  not 
find  it  stated  how  long  he  remained  there,  or  when  he 
became  able  to  resume  his  command.  Probably  he 
did  not  serve  in  the  army  again  during  that  campaign. 
On  the  10th  of  May,  of  the  following  year,  as  appears 
by  his  father's  manuscripts,  he  was  appointed  governor 
of  Chichester,  and  a  day  or  two  afterwards,  he  wrote 
to  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  stating  that  he  was  about  to 
go  down  to  enter  upon  his  charge,  after  which  he 
should  wait  upon  him  to  deliver  up  his  regiment.  "  I 
have  not,"  he  adds,  "  left  the  army  without  extreme 
unwillingness,  and  would  not  persuade  myself  to  it  by 
any  other  reason  than  that,  by  reason  of  my  lameness 
I  am  not  able  to  do  the  Parliament  and  you  the  ser- 

=*  Forster's  Life  of  Cromwell. 


CHAPTEK   I.  35 

vice  that  would  be  expected  from  me."  From  Ihis  it 
would  seem  that  the  wounds  he  had  received  at  Mars- 
ton  Moor  had  hitherto  disabled  him  from  active  service 
in  the  field. 

Notvvithstandins:  the  brilliant  victory  of  Marston 
Moor,  the  campaign  of  J 644  was  brought  to  an  inde- 
cisive close.  It  had  become  evident  that  the  old  chiefs 
of  the  army,  Essex,  Manchester  and  Sir  William  Wal- 
ler, whatever  their  merits  and  claims,  were  not  the 
men  to  bring  the  war  to  a  successful  termination. 
These  leaders  of  the  Presbyterian  interest,  were  the 
advocates  of  moderate  councils  and  moderate  action*?. 
Unwilling  to  push  matters  with  the  king  to  the  last 
extremity,  they  were  warring  against  his  prcrog^aiive^ 
not  against  his  person.  Essex's  commission  ran  in  the 
name  of  the  KiuiJ^  and  Parliament^  and  contained  a 
clause  relative  to  the  safety  of  his  majesty's  person. 
The  primary  object  of  the  Parliament  undoubtedly 
was,  to  defend  its  privileges,  not  a  total  change  of 
government.  But  a  new  and  more  energetic  class  of 
men  had  sprung  np  into  notice,  into  whose  hands  the 
control  of  the  revolution  was  about  to  pass.  They 
were  the  leaders  of  the  Independents,  the  Republicans 
of  the  revolution,  such  men  as  Cromwell,  Ireton  and 
Fairfax  in  the  army,  and  Vane,  St.  John,  Marten  and 
their  associates  in  the  Parliamenc. 

No  class  of  men  have  been  more  misrepresented,  and 
the  public  actions  of  none  have  been  less  thoroughly 
understood.  It  should  be  the  province  of  biography  as 
well  as  history  to  do  justice  to  their  motives  and  the 


36  ALGEKXON   SIDNEY. 

great  deeds  they  achieved.  These  men  were  not 
troubled  with  any  nice  distinctions  between  the  law- 
fulness of  a  war  against  the  king's  prerogative,  and 
war  against  his  person.  Their  actions  were  based 
upon  the  broad  and  fundamental  doctrines  of  human 
rights,  which  Sidney  afterwards  inculcated  in  his 
writings — the  right  of  insurrection  against  tyranny 
and  oppression — the  right  of  a  people  to  frame  their 
own  government,  to  alter  or  abolish  it  at  pleasure,  and 
to  call  their  rulers  to  account — the  right,  in  short, 
which  more  than  a  century  after,  was  asserted  in  the 
American  Declaration  of  Independence — entire  civil 
and  religious  liberty.  To  these  doctrines  Sidney  ad- 
hered, and  for  them  he  afterwards  perished  on  the 
scaffold. 

Cromwell,  indeed,  from  the  first,  with  his  penetrat- 
ing and  masculine  intellect,  had  appreciated  the  true 
merits,  and  anticipated  the  ultimate  issue  of  the  con- 
test. In  one  of  his  earliest  speeches  to  that  remarka- 
ble body  of  stern  and  determined  men  whom  he 
gathered  around  him — men  whose  martial  ardor  and 
courage  were  elevated  into  a  kind  of  religious  enthu- 
siasm— he  stated  the  point  at  issue  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly. He  declared  to  them  that  if  he  "  met  King 
Charles  in  the  body  of  the  enemy,  he  would  as  soon 
discharge  his  pistol  upon  him  as  upon  any  private 
man,  and  for  any  soldier  present  who  was  troubled 
with  a  conscience  that  would  not  let  him  do  the  like, 
he  advised  him  to  quit  the  service  he  was  engaged  in." 
Vane,  too,  in  Parliament,  thoroughly  understood  the 


CHAPTER  I.  37 

nature  of  the  controversy,  and  that  it  was  the  entire 
overthrow  of  the  monarchy,  not  the  mere  limitation  of 
the  power  of  the  king,  that  was  to  be  regarded  as  the 
true  end  of  the  struggle.  So,  too,. it  appeared  to  Sid- 
ney ;  and  with  the  ardor  and  enthusiasm  of  his  nature, 
he  entered  heartily  into  the  boldest  measures  of  the 
popular  party,  and  never  for  a  moment. ceased  to  be 
their  champion  even  when  Cromwell  himself  proved 
recreant  to  his  republican  principles  ;  and  when  liberty 
and  truth  were  finally  proscribed  from  England,  he 
proved  his  devotion  to  the  faith  of  his  life,  by  encoun- 
tering voluntarily  exile  and  banishment. 

Not  only  had  the  Independents,  or  the  Republicans, 
laid  hold  of  the  grand  idea  of  civil  liberty  in  govern- 
ment, which  we  understand  by  popular  sovereignty, 
but  they  were  far  in  advance  of  that  age  in  their  doc- 
trines of  freedom  of  worship  and  liberty  of  conscience. 
The  Presbyterians,  it  is  well  known,  insisted  upon  a 
conformity  of  religious  worship,  to  be  established  by 
the  state.  Their  own  system  was  to  take  the  place  of 
that  of  Laud  and  the  Church  cf  England.  Sidney  and 
Vane,  on  the  other  hand,  advocated  the  great  doctrines 
of  religious  as  well  as  civil  freedom — universal  tolera- 
tion in  matters  of  belief,  and  full  liberty  to  every  man 
to  worship  God  as  his  own  conscience  might  dictate. 

These  were  some  of  the  ends  now  to  be  accom- 
plished by  the  revolution  ;  but  to  reach  them  it  was 
necessary  that  the  revolution  should  pass  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  Presbyterian  majority.  This  was  the 
work  of  Vane  and  Cromwell,  a  work  in  which  Sid- 


38  ALGERNON  SIDNET. 

ney  heartily  co-operated.     The  first  great  step  to  be 
taken  was  to  re-orgahize  the  army — to  dismiss  from 
the  service  those   in  command  who  scrupled  to  '*  dis- 
charge  a  pistol   upon   the   king,"  and   to  entrust  the 
work    of   subduing    the    royalists    to    surer    and    less 
punctilious   hands.      To  effect   this,  Cromwell,  on    the 
9th  of  December,  1644,  introduced  in  Parliament  his 
famous   *' self-denying   ordinance,"  providing   that  no 
member  of  either  house  should  hold  under  the  autho- 
rity of  Parliament  any  office,  civil  or  military,  during 
the  war.     Yane  ably  supported  the  bill,  which  passed 
the  Commons,  but  failed  in  the  House  of  Lords.     The 
following  month,  however,  a  substitute  was  proposed 
and  carried,  whereby  every  member  of  Parliament  was 
thenceforth  discharged  from   whatever  office   civil  or 
military  he  then  held.     This  law  of  course  brought  in 
the  resignations  of  Essex,   Waller,  Manchester,   and 
all  the  old   parliamentary  officers,  including  Cromweli 
himself.     Bat  it  was  not  the  purpose  of  the  Parlia- 
ment to  deprive   itself  of  the  services  of  the   future 
Lord-General.      In  the  army  of  the   "  new  model," 
which  was  immediately  organized.  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax 
was  appointed    general-in-chief,  and    Skippon  major- 
general.     The  name  of  the  lieutenant-general  was  left 
blank  ;  the  blank  was  afterwards  filled  with  the  name 
of  Oliver  Cromavell.     Sidney  w^as  one  of  the  twenty- 
six  colonels  appointed'  in  the  new  army.     Among  these 
subordinate  officers  also  were  Ireton,  Desborough,  and 
Harrison,  destined  afterwards  to  become  famous  in  the 
history  of  the  Commonwealth. 


CHAPTEE   I.  39 

It  is  unnecessary  here  to  sketch  the  further  history 
of  the  military  operations  between  the  king  and  the 
Parliament.  As  has  been  just  mentioned,  Colonel 
Sidney,  on  account  of  his  lameness,  reluctantly  gave 
np  the  command  of  his  regiment  in  Fairfax's  army, 
and  retired  to  the  government  of  Chichester.  We  do 
not  find  that  he  was  in  the  field  during  the  campaign 
of  1645,  nor  present  at  the  decisive  battle  of  Naseby, 
"which  prostrated  the  power  of  the  king  and  established 
the  supremacy  of  the  people  of  England  through  their 
Parliament. 

In  the  month  of  December  of  this  year.  Colonel  Sid- 
ney was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons 
from  the  borough  of  Cardiff,  as  will  presently  be  no- 
ticed in  our  sketch  of  his  parliamentary  career.  Soon 
after,  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  recommendation 
of  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  and  in  consideration  of  his 
valuable  services,  voted  him  two  thousand  pounds  in 
payment  of  his  arrears.  In  January,  1646,  his 
brother,  the  Lord  Lisle,  was  appointed  lord  lieuten- 
ant of  Ireland,  and  was  ordered  to  that  country  to 
make  head  against  the  Marquis  of  Ormond,  who  had 
succeeded  the  Earl  of  Leicester  in  the  government,  by 
the  king's  authority.  The  same  delays  that  had  at- 
tended the  departure  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester  attended 
that  of  Lord  Lisle.  His  commission  was  not  signed 
till  April  following,  and  it  was  not  till  the  first  of 
February,  1647,  that  he  actually  embarked.  On  the 
6th  of  July,  in  the  preceding  year,  Sidney  received  a 
commission  from  his  brother  for  the  command  of  a 


40  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

regiment  in  this  expedition.  His  attendance  in  par- 
liament was  dispensed  with  by  a  resolution  of  the 
House  of  Commons  ;  and  having  completed  his  pre- 
parations, he  accompanied  Lord  Lisle  into  Ireland. 
It  appears,  by  the  journal  of  his  father,  that  the  com- 
mittee of  government  at  Derby  House  had  invested 
Sidney  with  the  responsible  command  of  lieutenant- 
general  of  the  horse  in  Ireland  and  governor  of  Dub- 
lin. He  did  not,  however,  long  discharge  the  duties 
of  this  new  place.  The  commission  of  Lord  Lisle  ran 
only  for  one  year  from  its  date,  and  the  influence  of 
his  jealous  rival,  Lord  Inchiquin,  succeeded  in  prevent- 
ing its  renewal  by  the  Parliament.  Thus  after  a  ser- 
vice of  less  than  two  months,  Lisle's  commission 
having  expired,  he  returned  to  England.  The  parti- 
zans  of  Inchiquin  now  resolved  to  supersede  Sidney, 
and  finally  succeeded  in  getting  one  Colonel  Jones 
appointed  governor  of  Dublin  in  his  place.  It  appears 
from  the  Earl's  manuscripts,  that  on  the  8th  of  April, 
1647,  a  motion  was  made  in  Parliament  that  Colonel 
Jones  should  be  made  governor  of  Dublin  in  place  of 
Algernon  Sidney,  and  that  the  motion  was  seconded 
by  old  Sir  Henry  Yane*  on  the  ground,  that  Lord 
Lisle  having  been  recalled,  it  was  not  proper  that  so 
important  a  place  as  Dublin  should  be  left  under  the 
government  of  his  brother.  The  resolution  was  op- 
posed by  William  Armyn  and  others,  who  urged  that 
if  they  had  ill-used  one  brother,  it  was  no  reason  why 

*  Father  of  the  celebiated  Sir  Henry  Vane  the  Younger,  And  formerly 
one  of  the  secretaries  of  Charles  I. 


CHAPTER   I.  41 

thpy  "  should  do  injustice  to  the  other,  who  had  so 
well  deserved  of  them ;^^  but,  the  House  being  thin, 
and  many  of  Colonel  Sidney's  friends  absent,  the  mo- 
tion was  carried,  and  Jones  appointed  governor  of 
Dublin.  That  it  w^as  no  want  of  good  conduct  which 
induced  the  House  to  supersede  him,  appears  from  its 
subsequent  action.  It  was  thereupon  moved  "  that 
some  recompense  might  be  given  to  Algernon  Sidney 
according'  to  his  merits,^^  which  was  agreed  to  unani- 
mously. 

On  his  return  to  England  the  first  of  May,  he  im- 
mediately repaired  to  London,  where  he  received  the 
thanks  of  Parliament  for  his  good  service  in  Ireland. 
Subsequently  he  was  appointed  governor  of  Dover, 
where  he  remained  some  time  in  the  discharge  of  his* 
duties,  and  on  the  13th  of  October,  1648,  was  pro- 
moted by  an  ordinance  of  Parliament  to  the  honorable 
title  of  lieutenant.  His  name  was  regarded  as  of 
good  omen  among  the  learned  enthusiasts  of  the  day, 
as,  when  written  in  the  Hebrew  character,  with  a 
slight  variation,  it  might  be  translated,  "He  is  against 
strange  men  that  destroy  the  cause."* 

Here  properly  closes  the  sketch  of  Colonel  Sidney's 
military  career.  Henceforth  we  find  him  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Long  Parliament  up  to  the  period  of 
its  final  dissolution.  His  services  as  a  soldier  form 
the  least  distinguished  portion  of  his  career.  Though 
valuable  in  their  sphere,  they  were  unobtrusive  and 
modest.  The  young  parliamentary  colonel  of  twenty- 
*  Meadley's  Memoirs. 


42  ALGER]S'ON   SID^^:Y. 

four,  unfurled  his'  banner  at  the  head  of  his  regiment 
in  Fairfax's  army,  inscribed  with  his  simple  and  ex- 
pressive motto,  so  characteristic  of  him  who  had 
chosen  it,  Sanctus  amor  patriae  dat  ammum,  with  no 
higher  aspiration  than  simply  to  do  his  duty,  while 
his  more  ambitious  but  not  more  gifted  associates, 
Ireton,  Fleetwood,  Lambert,  and  Desborough,  were 
pushinof  themselves  forward  to  (iistinction  and  fame. 
That  Sidney  while  in  the  army  did  discharge  his  duty 
\Aith  fidelity,  and  that  he  performed  many  valuable 
services,  is  proved  in  the  approbation  his  conduct  re- 
ceived from  his  cotemporaries,  in  the  thanks  of  the 
Parliament,  in  the  honorable  mention  that  is  made  of 
his  gallantry  on  their  records,  and  especially  in  the 
undying  enmity  that  was  afterwards  manifested  toward 
him  by  Charles  II.  and  his  court  on  the  restoration  of 
the  monarchy.  As  a  soldier  he  was  distinguished  by 
the  same  chivalrous  ardor  and  undaunted  bravery 
which  marked  the  character  of  his  illustrious  kinsman, 
Sir  Philip  Sidney,  who  fell  on  the  field  of  Zutphen. 
Bishop  Burnet,  who  knew  him  personally,  but  who 
has  not  done  full  justice  to  his  character,  speaks  of 
him  as  "  a  man  of  the  most  extraordinary  courage — 
a  steady  man  even  to  obstinacy.''^     These  attributes 

*  The  whole  passage  reads  as  follows : — '"  A  man  of  the  most  extraor- 
dinary courage — a  steady  man  even  to  obstinacy — sincere,  but  of  a  rough 
and  boisterous  temper  that  could  not  bear  contradiction.  He  seemed  to 
be  a  Christian,  but  in  a  peculiar  way  of  his  own ;  he  thought  it  was  to 
be  like  a  divine  philosophy  in  the  mind  ;  but  he  was  against  all  public 
worship  and  everything  that  looked  lik«  a  church.  He  was  stiff  to  all 
republican  principles,  and  such  an  enemy  to  everything  that  looked  like 
a  monarchy,  that  he  set  himself  in  high  opposition  against  Cromwell* 


CHAPTEE  I.  43 

of  the.  soldier,  united  as  they  were  in  Sidney,  with  a 
singularly  clear  and  rapid  judgment,  an  inilexible 
constancy  of  f)urpose  and  firnriness  of  temper,  might , 
under,  circumstances  more  favorable  to  the  develop- 
ment of  his  military  genius,  have  placed  him  high 
amons:  the  lists  of  the  «:enerals  of  the  Commonwealth. 
But  unforeseen  events  closed  to  him  the  path  to 
exalted  military  command  in  the  army  that  Cromwell 
commanded.  He  left  it  to  take  his  place  with  Vano 
and  St.  John  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  among  the 
ranks  of  the  republicans  in  Parliament,  where  his 
presence  was  most  needed  and  his  place  could  be  less 
easily  supplied.  - 

when  he  was  made  Protector.  He  had  studied  the  history  of  frovernment 
in  all  its  branches  beyond  any  man  lever  knew.  He  had  a  particular  way 
of  insinuating  himself  into  people  that  would  hearken  to  his  notions  and 
would  not  contradict  him." 


CHAPTER    II. 

The  Long  Parliament — Its  history — Difficulty  attending  the  election 
of  new  members — Sidney  elected  from  Cardiff — Does  not  take  an 
active  part  in  its  deliberation — Events  whirh  led  to  the  trial  of  the 
Kiiig— Conference  with  the  King  at  the  Isle  of  Wight — Treacherous 
conduct  of  Charles— "  Pride's  purge" — Proceedings  to  bring  the 
King  to  trial — Sidney  nominated  one  of  the  commissioners — De- 
clines to  sit — His  reasons — His  opinions  of  the  King's  guilt — Re- 
flections on  the  trial  and  execution  of  the  King — Conduct  of  the 
judges — Sidney  retires  to  Penshurst — Returns  to  London  after  the 
King's  death — Resumes  his  seat  in  Parliament  and  sustains 
the  government — Establishment  of  the  Commonwealth — Instal- 
lation of  the  new  Council  of  State — Sidney  opposes  the  "  test" 
oath  in  Parliament — Difficulty  with  Cromwell — Question  re- 
specting the  dissolution  of  Parliament — Sidney  a  member  of 
the  committee  to  which  it  was  referred — Labors  of  the  com- 
mittee— Subject  referred  to  committee  of  the  whole — Difficulty 
between  Sidney  and  his  officers — Resigns  the  command  of  Dover — 
Visits  Holland — Quarrels  with  the  Earl  of  Oxford — Returns  to  Eng- 
land and  resumes  his  parliamentary  duty — Appointed  on  various 
committees — His  colleagues — Vigor  of  the  Commonwealth  govern- 
ment— Sidney's  account  of  it — Ambition  of  Cromwell — His  hostil- 
ity fo  Sidney — Contest  between  the  military  and  civil  power — The 
republicans  oppose  Cromwell— Plan  of  the  republicans  to  dissolve 
parliament  and  call  a  new  one — Plan  of  Cromwell — Vane's  bill — 
Is  defended  by  Sidney — Crisis  in  public  affairs— Long  Parliament 
dissolved  by  Cromwell — Sidney  forced  out — Ketires  to  Penshurst — 
Refuses  to  take  any  further  part  in  the  government — Cromwell — 
Vane. 

The  name  of  Algernon  Sidney  is  closely  connected 


CHAPTER  n.  45 

with  the  history  of  the  Long  Parliament.  He  became 
a  member  of  it  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1645, 
and  though  sometimes  absent  on  military  and  other 
duties,  he  continued  to  retain  his  seat  until  its  disso- 
lution by  Cromwell,  and  re-assembled  with  it  on  the 
abdication  of  the  Protector,  Richard  Cromwell.  This 
famous  body,  whose  achievements  are  so  remarkable 
in  English  history,  assembled  at  "Westminster,  in  No- 
vember, 1640.  The  House  of  Commons  numbered 
about  five  hundred  members,  chief  among  whom,  on 
the  popular  side,  were  Pym,  Hampden,  and  Hollis, 
St.  John,  Marten,  and  Vane.  One  of  the  first  acts  of 
the  Commons  was  the  impeachment  of  the  Earl  of 
Strafford,  who  was  tried  by  the  House  of  Lords,  and 
notwithstanding  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  king,  was 
condemned  and  executed.  On  the  rupture  between 
the  king  and  Parliament,  many  members  of  both 
Houses  who  favored  the  royal  cause,  left  their  places, 
and  never  afterwards  met  with  the  Parliament. 
When  the  royalist  members  assembled  at  Oxford  in 
1644,  there  were  found  to  be  rising  of  one  hundred 
and  eighteen  who  adhered  to  the  cause  of  the  king. 
The  Commons  at  Westminster  at  the  same  time  order- 
ed a  call  of  the  House,  and  two  hundred  and  eighty 
members  answered  to  their  names,  while  one  hundred 
more  were  excused  as  being  absent  in  the  service  of 
the  Parliament. 

It  appears  thus  that  the  great  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers adhered  to  the  popular  cause.  Some  had  volun- 
tarily retired,  and  some  had  been  expelled  or  declared 


40  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

•unable  any  longer  to  sit,  the  House  exercising  its 
revolutionary  right  of  declaring  the  eligibility  of  its 
own  members.  Still  it  was  desirous  for  many  reasons 
that  the  popular  representation  should  be  preserved 
entire,  and  that  the  places  of  such  members  as  were 
dead  or  absent,  and  ceased  to  act,  should  be  filled  by 
their  constituents.  To  this  question  the  attention  of 
the  best  and  most  eminent  of  the  republican  leaders 
had  been  for  some  time  directed.  It  was  found  at  first 
that  a  difficulty  existed.  The  writ  authorizing  a  new 
election,  had.  always  been  under  the  great  seal ;  but 
the  lord  keeper,  in  1642,  had  carried  it  off  to  the 
king,  at  York,  and  the  House  of  Commons  could  not 
yet  bring  itself  to  overleap  and  disregard  the  cus- 
tomary forms  of  the  monarchy.  No  action  was, 
therefore,  taken  upon  the  subject,  until  the  30th  of 
September,  1644,  on  which  day  it  was  voted  that  the 
House  should,  at  a  future  time  specified,  take  the 
subject  into  consideration.  Still  nothing  decisive  was 
done  that  year.  Parliament  yet  hesitated,  hoping, 
tloubtless,  a  reconciliation  with  the  king  and  a  re- 
union of  its  members.  Meanwhile,  the  great  change 
already  mentioned,  took  place  in  the  army  ;  the  repub- 
licans— the  men  who  clearly  foresaw  the  inevitable 
issue  of  the  contest — the  true  statesmen  of  the  age, 
began  to  make  their  influence  felt  upon  the  govern- 
ment. The  battle  of  Naseby,  so  hopelessly  fatal  to  the 
fortunes  of  the  king,  placed  the  day  of  reconcilia- 
tion, if  possible,  still  further  off,  and  strengthened  the 
cause  of  the  popular  leaders.     Vane,  St.  John,  Mar- 


cnAFrEPw  II.  47 

ten.  and  tlieir  ass^>ci;if,cs  in  parliament,  who  had  been 
diligently  nririno^  forward  this  measure  of  fdling  np 
the  representation,  were  now  enabled  to  act.  A  peti- 
tion came  up  from  the  borough  of  Southvvarlc,  praying 
that  the  people  might  be  authorized  to  elect  two  re- 
presentatives in  place  of  one  who  had  died,  ami  one 
who  had  been  disabled  bv  a  vote  of  the  House.  On 
the  21st  of  August,  164o,  the  initiative  step  was 
taken.  A  majority  of  the  Parliament  decided  that 
new  writs  should  be  issued  for  Southwark  and  one  or 
two  other  places.  This  example  was  speedily  followed, 
and  during  the  remainder  of  that  year,  no  less  than 
one  hundred  and  forty-six  vacant  seats  were  filled  by 
new  elections  among  the  people.  Under  these  new 
elections  Algernon  Sidney,  in  December  of  that  year, 
was  returned  a  member  of  the  House.  The  ranks  of 
the  republicans  were  also  recruited  with  other  distin- 
guished and  enlightened  statesmen  ;  the  able  and  ac- 
complished Ireton  was  chosen,  the  resolute  and  straight- 
forward Fairfax,  the  honest  and  open  Ludlow,  Blake, 
the  illustrious  admiral,  who  afterwards  so  nobly  sus- 
tained the  flag  of  the  commonwealth  on  the  ocean, 
Hutchinson,  Skippon,  Massey,  and  other  jearnest  and 
zealous  republicans.  These  men  infused  new  life  and 
energy  into  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  brought 
the  struggle  with  the  king  to  a  speedy  close. 

Colonel  Sidney  does  not  appear  to  have  taken  a 
very  active  part  in  the  proceedings  in  Parliament  for 
two  or  three  years  after  his  election.  He  preferred  the 
more    stirring    scenes   of    the    camp    and    the    field. 


48  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

We  have  seen  that  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
year  1646,  he  was  busily  employed  in  preparation  for 
the  expedition  to  Ireland,  and  for  that  purpose  his  at- 
tendance in  Parliament  was  dispensed  with,  by  a  reso- 
lution of  the  House  of  Commons.  After  his  return  to 
England,  his  military  duties,  as  governor  of  Dover, 
occupied  his  principal  attention  up  to  the  time,  of 
the  trial  and  execution  of  the  king.  It  became 
evident  then  that  the  Revolution  had  reached  its 
crisis,  and  that  the  great  popular  battle  was  thenceforth 
to  be  fought  upon  the  floor  of  the  Parliament,  and  not 
upon  the  field.  Sidney  thereupon  took  his  seat,  and 
participated  actively  in  the  duties  of  the  House,  as 
one  of  the  warmest  supporters  of  the  new  common- 
wealth. 

It  is  unnecessary  in  this  place  to  trace  the  events 
which  led  to  the  trial,  the  condemnation,  and  the  exe- 
cution of  the  king.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  Charles 
Stuart  had  betrayed  the  national  cause,  had  endeavor- 
ed to  subvert  the  liberties  of  his  subjects,  and  had 
proved  faithless  to  his  engagements  with  the  Parlia- 
ment.  Discarding  the  absurd  maxim  that  "  the  king 
can  do  no  wrong,"  we  may  safely,  in  our  day,  pass 
the  judgment  upon  him  that  he  was  a  greater  criminal 
than  Strafford  had  been,  and  no  one,  we  think,  can 
approve  the  condemnation  of  that  ill-fated  nobleman, 
without  conceding  the  abstract  justice  of  the  sentence 
which  adjudged  Charles  to  the  scaffold.  The  king 
for  some  time  previous  to  his  trial  had  been  a  captive 
in  the  hands   of  the  Parliament.     The  Presbyterian 


CHAPTEK   II.  49 

majority,  who  then  ruled  the  Parliament,  were  desi- 
rous of  an  accommodation  with  the  king,  and  of  re- 
placing him  upon  the  throne,  contrary  to  the  wishes 
of  the  republicans,  upon  certain  conditions  and  con- 
cessions made  by  him  to  the  liberties  of  the  people. 
Charles  had  his  crown  already  within  his  grasp,  but 
his  arbitrary  and  tyrannical  disposition,  united  with 
his  duplicity  and  falseness,  lost  him  not  only  his 
throne  but  his  life. 

The  memorable  conference  betw^een  the  kincr  and  a 
committee  of  the  Parliament  at  the  Isle  of  "Wight,  com- 
menced on  the  18th  of  September,  1648,  and  was 
spun  out  for  more  than  two  months.  Vane  w^as  a 
member  of  this  committee,  and  speaks  of  Charles  in 
these  negotiations  as  "  a  man  of  great  parts  and  abili- 
ties." But  notwithstanding  his  abilities,  he  seems  to 
have  been  attended  here  more  than  at  any  other 
period  of  his  life,  by  his  evil  genius,  which  was 
already  weaving  the  web  of  Jiis  destiny.  Little  could 
the  misguided  monarch,  as  he  obstinately  refused  the 
concessions  demanded  of  him,  little  could  he  then  anti- 
cipate the  scene  that  in  less  than  three  months  would 
be  revealed  to  his  wondering  eye — the  scaffold  shroud- 
ed in  black  at  Whitehall,  on  which  stood  the  masked 
headsman  WMth  his  fatal  axe  !  The  king  made  several 
concessions,  with  the  secret  reservation  to  retract 
them.  He  obstinately  refused,  however,  notwithstand- 
ing the  entreaties  of  Hollis  and  the  Presbyterians,  to 
yield  full  freedom  of  religious  w^orship,  or  to  treat  on 
any  other  basis  except  that  his  friends  should  be  fully 
3 


50  ALGEENOIT   SIDJOTT. 

indemnified  for  their  losses.  These  terms  were  any- 
thing but  satisfactory  to  the  republicans,  yet  the  Pres- 
byterian majority,  weary  of  the  war,  were  disposed  to 
accede  to  them.  On  the  1st  December,  the  commis- 
sioners made  their  report  to  the  House.  A  resolu- 
tion proposed  by  the  Presbyterians,  that  the  king's 
answers  furnished  a  ground  "  for  the  settlement  of  the 
kingdom,"  supported  by  Prynne  and  HoUis,  and 
opposed  by  Yane,  was  finally  carried  by  a  vote  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  to  one  hundred  and  four.  Bat  the 
republican  minority  in  the  house  were  sustained  by  a 
formidable  ally.  The  army,  headed  by  Cromwell, 
was  republican,  and  an  ominous  voice  had  already 
come  up  from  it  in  the  shape  of  an  address  to  the  Par- 
liament calling  for  the  prosecution  of  the  king.  The 
day  after  the  vote  the  Parliament  was  "  purged*'  of  a 
portion  of  the  Presbyterian  majority  by  Col.  Pride's 
regiment,  and  the  power  of  the  state  passed  wholly 
into  the  hands  of  the  republicans 

It  does  not  appear  that  at  the  time  of  '*  Pride's  purge," 
Sidney  was  in  attendance  in  the  House.  Many  of  the 
best  of  the  republicans,  among  whom  was  Yane,  we 
know  disapproved  of  this  unjust  and  outrageous  in- 
*  terference  of  the  army  with  the  rights  of  the  people's 
representatives,  and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  Sid- 
ney was  one  of  these.  The  act  was  a  high-handed 
outrage,  and  the  first  great  error  committed  by  the 
republicans.  It  was  quickly  followed  by  another, 
which  indeed  was  its  inevitable  result,  the  execution 
of  the  king.     On  the  2d  of    January,  the  Commons 


CHAPTER  n.  51 

pas.«ed  the  significant  resolution,  preparatory  to  the 
overthrow  of  the  monarchy  :  "  That  the  Commons  of 
England  in  Parliament  assembled  do  declare,  that  the 
PEOPLE  are,  under  God,  the  original  of  all  just  power." 
An  ordinance  for  creating  a  "  high  Court  of  Justice," 
and  appointing  Commissioners  for  the  trial  of  the  king, 
had  been  introduced  some  days  before,  was  read  a 
third  time  on  the  6th,  and  was  passed.  The  num- 
ber of  the  Commissioners  named  in  it  was  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five.  They  comprised  all  the  illustri- 
ous republicans  of  the  times,  except  Sir  Henry  Yane, 
who  had  retired  from  Parliament  after  "  Pride's 
purge,"  a.nd  refused  to  •share  further  in  the  proceed- 
ings. Colonel  Sidney  and  his  brother.  Lord  Lisle, 
were  both  named  members  of  the  Commission  to  try 
the  king.  Neither  one  of  them,  however,  thought 
proper  upon  it.  Sidney,  it  seems,  attended  with  Fair- 
fax the  first  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  in  the 
painted  Chamber,  and  expressed  himself  dissatisfied 
with  the  whole  proceeding.  His  own  account  of  his 
share  in  the  transaction  we  find  stated  in  a  letter 
written  by  himself  to  his  father  after  the  restoration : 
"  I  was  at  Penshurst  when  the  act  for  the  king's 
trial  passed,  and  coming  up  to  town  I  heard  my  name 
was  put  in.  I  presently  went  to  the  painted  Cham- 
ber, where  those  who  were  nominated  for  judges  were 
assembled.  A  debate  was  raised,  and  I  did  positively 
oppose  Cromwell  and  Bradshaw  and  others  who 
would  have  the  trial  to  go  on,  and  drew  my  reasons 
from  these  two  points  : — First,  the  king  could  be  tried 


52  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

by  no  court.  Secondly,  that  no  man  could  be  tried 
by  that  court.  This  being  alleged  in  vain,  and  Crom- 
well using  these  formal  words,  '  I  tell  you  we  will  cut 
off  his  head  with  the  crown  upon  it,'  I  replied,  *  yau 
may  take  your  own  course,  I  cannot  stop  you,  but  I 
will  keep  myself  clean  from  having  any  hand  in  this 
business, — and  immediately  went  out  of  the  room  and 
never  returned.  This  is  all  that  passed  publicly,  or 
that  can  with  truth  be  recorded  or  taken  notice  of.  I 
had  an  intention  which  is  not  very  fit  for  a  letter." 

The  "  intention"  spoken  of  by  Sidney,  Sir  James 
Mackintosh  conceives,  and  with  good  reason,  to  have 
been  to  procure  the  concurrence  of  both  Houses  of 
Parliament  in  the  deposition  of  the  king.  Clarendon 
says  that  among  the  enemies  of  the  king  there  were 
three  opinions  ;  one  was  for  deposing  him,  another  for 
secret  assassination,  and  a  third  for  bringing  him  to 
public  trial  as  a  malefactor.  The  plan  for  *'  assassi- 
nation" may  be  set  down  as  one  of  the  many  fictions 
of  this  royalist  historian,  but  the  other  t^wo  were 
doubtless  discussed  among  the  republican  leaders, 
who  finally  resolved  to  bring  the  king  to  trial  as  a 
criminal.  Unquestionably  Sidney  in  opposing  a  public 
trial  shared  the  wiser  and  more  statesmanlike  views 
of  Vane,  and  favored  the  deposition  of  the  king. 

It  will  be  observed,  however,  that  while  Sidney 
doubts  the  power  of  the  court,  or  of  any  court,  to 
bring  Charles  Stuart  to  trial,  he  does  not  utter  a 
word  or  intimate  a  doubt  as  to  his  guilt,  or  the  justice 
of  his  sentence.     Indeed  he  never  hesitated  to  approve 


CHAPTER   II.  63 

and  justify  the  sentence.  And  even  after  the  restora- 
tion, when  the  minds  of  the  royalists  were  poisoned 
against  him,  far  from  attempting  to  ingratiate  himself 
by  any  base  '*  compliance  with  the  times,"  he  frankly 
answered  an  inquiry  of  his  father  on  the  subject, 
"  I  do  avow  that  since  I  came  into  Denmark,  I  have 
many  times  so  Justified  that  act,  as  people  did 
believe  I  had  a  hand  in  it;  and  never  did  disavow  it 
unless  it  were  to  the  king  of  Sweden  and  Grrand 
Maitrie  of  Denmark  who  asked  me  privately." 

"We  do  not  here  design  to  discuss  either  the  justice, 
or  the  wisdom  and  policy,  of  this  daring  act — the 
"  boldest  hitherto  done  in  Christendom."  It  has 
been  often  condemned  as  a  gratuitous  and  wanton 
cruelty,  and  the  motives  of  the  resolute  and  deter- 
mined men  who  wrought  it  have  been  traduced  and 
assailed.  Time,  and  the  progress  of  liberal  sen- 
timents, which  have  fully  vindicated  its  justice, 
have  also  vindicated  the  motives  of  the  men  who 
sat  with  John  Bradshaw  in  that  judgment  seat.  The 
policy  and  statesmanship  of  the  act  is  more  question- 
able. Doubtless  it  inculcated  a  terrible  and  lasting 
truth,  one  not  easily  forgotten  by  princes  and  rulers, 
that  however  monarchs  might  theorize  on  their  "  di- 
vine rights,"  yet  practically  the  power  dwelt  in  the 
hands  of  the  people,  but  its  results  proved  it  a  lam- 
entable  political  error,  and  demonstrated  the  superior 
wisdom  of  the  course  preferred  by  Vane  and  Sidney. 
It  opened  the  way  to  the  aspiring  ambition  of  the 
successful  soldier  who,   so  soon  after,  subverted  the 


54:  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

liberties  of  the  commonwealth.  It  obliged  the  new 
government  to  lean  for  support  upon  the  army  rather 
than  upon  that  moral  power  which,  in  a  free  state,  is 
always  wielded  by  the  civil  authorities,  and  centers  in 
the  bosom  of  the  national  representation.  Finally, 
the  scene  itself,  so  sudden,  so  startling,  so  tragic, 
united  with  the  pious  constancy  and  fortitude  of  the 
sufferer,  shocked  the  minds  of  a  people  constitution- 
ally loyal,  like  the  people  of  England,  and  had  the 
effect  of  producing  more  than  any  other  single  cause 
that  powerful  reaction  in  public  sentiment  against  the 
new  government,  which,  eleven  years  after,  mani- 
fested itself  in  those  shouts  of  acclamation  which 
greeted  the  arrival  of  the  second  Charles,  a  wanderer, 
recalled  from  exile,  to  be  raised  without  conditions  to 
the  throne  of  his  ancestors.  All  then  that  remains  is 
the  stern,  severe,  naked  justice  of  the  act,  the  sub- 
limity of  the  spectacle  displayed  by  those  men  of 
stout  hearts  and  resolute  minds,  and  the  moral  lesson 
inculcated,  which  has  not  been  lost  to  the  world. 

The  king  was  executed  on  the  30th  day  of  Janu- 
ary, 1649.  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  of  the  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five  judges  appointed  to  try  him, 
seventy-one  was  the  greatest  number  ever  present  at 
the  trial.  Most  of  the  rest,  like  Fairfax  and  Sidney, 
Were  designedly  absent.  Sixty-three  were  present 
when  sentence  was  pronounced,  and  the  names  of 
fifty-nine  are  found  attached  to  the  death  warrant. 
Among  these,  besides  Oliver  Cromwell  whose  signa- 
ture is  next  to  that  of  the  president,  are  to  be  found 


CHAPTER  n.  55 

the  names  of  those  well  known  and  steady  republicans, 
Bradshaw,   Ireton,  Fleetwood,  Marten,  Scot,  and  Lud- 
low ;   and    Whalley,  Dixwell    and  Goffe,  who  subset 
quently  fled   to  the  colonies  of  America,  and  died  in 
exile   in  the  then  wilderness  of  New  England. 

During  these  proceedings,  Sidney,  with  his  brother, 
Lord  Lisle,  left  London  and  went  to  Penshurst.  They 
remained  there  several  days,  and  until  after  the  con- 
demnation of  the  king.  Having  openly  opposed  the 
proceedings  in  the  Painted  Chamber,  Sidney  did  not 
choose  to  lend  even  so  slight  a  sanction  to  them  as 
might  be  inferred  from  his  presence  in  the  Capital. 
But  as  has  been  before  mentioned  his  objection  proceed- 
ed rather  to  the  form  of  the  proceeding,  and  his  reluc- 
tance to  bring  Charles  to  the  sea  (Told,  than  from  any 
doubt  of  his  guilt,  or  from  any  want  of  sympathy  with 
his  republican  associates.  That  he  heartily  concurred 
in  the  abolition  of  royalty  and  the  establishment  of  a 
free  commonwealth,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he 
immediately  returned  to  London  and  took  his  seat  in 
Parliament,  where  he  at  once  zealously  co-operated 
in  all  the  measures  proposed  to  sustain  the  new  gov- 
ernment. 

Sidney  now  applied  himself  as  closely  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  House  as  the  duties  of  his  military  place, 
which  he  still  retained,  would  permit.  The  new  gov- 
ernment which  came  in  after  the  king's  death,  was 
strictly  a  commonwealth.  The  House  of  Lords  was, 
by  a  formal  vote,  abolished,  and  the  next  day,  by 
another  vote,  the  "  kingship'*  was  declared  "  unneoes- 


56  ALGERNON   SIDN^. 

sary,  burdensome  and  dangerous  to  the  liberty,  safety, 
and  public  interest  of  the  people."  The  sole  legisla- 
tive, as  well  as  executive  power,  was  therefore  vested 
in  what  remained  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The 
religious  government  of  the  nation  was  settled,  estab- 
lishing the  Presbyterian  form,  but  depriving  it  of  all 
temporal  power  or  pretensions  ;  and  religious  tolera- 
tion became  the  order  of  the  day  in  place  of  the  rigid 
coercive  power  which  had  so  long  been  wielded  by 
the  ancient  hierarchy  of  England.  In  a  very  few 
days  most  of  the  vestiges  of  the  monarchy  were 
swept  away.  The  great  seal  was  broken  to  pieces 
and  a  new  one  devised.  The  name  of  the  King's 
Bench  was  changed  to  that  of  Upper  Bench.  Even 
the  king's  statues  at  the  Royal  Exchange  and  other 
places  were  taken  down,  and  Harry  Marten's  inscrip- 
tion placed  on  their  sites. 

Exit  tyrannus  regum  ultimus. 

It  soon,  however,  became  apparent  to  the  states- 
men of  the  Commonwealth  that  an  executive  power 
of  some  description  was  necessary  in  the  new  govern- 
ment. For  this  purpose  a  committee  of  five  was 
appointed  to  name  a  council,  to  consist  of  forty  per- 
sons, to  act  as  the  executive  power,  whose  authority 
was  to  continue  for  one  year.  The  new  council  was 
installed  on  the  17th  of  February.  The  illustrious 
Bradshaw  was  chosen  its  president.  Besides  Crom- 
well, it  comprised  nearly  all  the  eminent  republican 
leaders  of  the  time,  Ireton,  Ludlow,  Marten,  St.   John, 


CHAPTER  n.  67 

Hazelrig,  Harringtrn,  Scott,  Lisle,  and  Hutchinson. 
Some  of  the  nobility  were  also  members  ;  the  Earls 
of  Denbigh,  Mulgrave,  Pembroke,  and  Salisbury,  and 
the  Lords  Fairfax  and  Grey.  Vane  also  was 
chosen  a  member,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Crom- 
well, it  is  said,  whose  ambitious  aspirations  had 
not  yet  taken  form  and  shape  ;  but  he  did  not  present 
himself  till  nine  days  after.  He  found  an  obstacle  to 
his  being  sworn  into  the  council,  by  reason  of  a  reso- 
lution proposed  in  the  House,  that  no  person  should  be 
a  member  without  expressing  his  approbation  of  all 
that  had  been "xione  on  the  king's  trial.  Vane  refused 
to  take  the  test.  It  was  upon  this  occasion  that  Sid- 
ney, sensible  of  the  importance  and  value  of  such 
services  as  Vane's,  in  the  executive  council  of  the 
new  government,  opposed  this  test  in  the  House  with 
great  warmth  and  animation.  Among  other  things 
he  observed,  that  ''such  a  test  would  prove  a  snare  to 
many  an  honest  man,  but  every  knave  would  slip 
through  it."  This  cutting,  and  perhaps  imprudent 
sarcasm  was  construed  into  a  personal  affront  by 
Cromwell,  Harrison  and  others,  and  a  violent  debate, 
which  occasioned  great  excitement,  ensued,  it  being 
contended  that  Sidney  had  called  all  those  knaves 
who  subscribed  to  the  test.  The  experienced  Harry 
Marten,  one  of  Sidney's  warmest  friends,  at  length 
quieted  the  turmoil,  and  put  an  end  to  the  debate,  by 
one  of  his  quick-witted  and  good-natured  explanations. 
He  declared  that  Sidney  had  only  said  that  every 
knave  might  slip  through,  not  that  every  one  who  did 


58  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

slip  through  was  a  knave.  Sidney  in  the  letter  to 
his  father,  already  mentioned,  alluding  to  this  circum- 
stance, declares  his  own  conviction  that  it  was  much 
against  his  interest,  as  it  made  Cromwell,  Harrison, 
Lord  Grey  of  Groby,  and  others  his  enemies,  who 
from  that  time,  continually  opposed  him. 

The  opposition  of  Cromwell  and  his  satellites,  how- 
ever, as  we  shall  presently  see,  was  not  only  against 
Sidney,  but  against  Yane,  Bi*adshaw,  Ludlow,  and 
the  noblest  minds  among  the  republicans  who  stood  in 
the  path  of  his  ambition. 

The  first  great  question  which  the  House  and  the 
executive  council  encountered,  was  that  of  the  succes- 
sion, and  of  regulating  the  election  of  future  parlia- 
ments. The  *'  Rump  Parliament,"  as  it  is  called,  has 
been  accused  of  the  desire  of  perpetuating  itself,  after 
all  its  power  and  influence  had  departed.  The  charge, 
so  far  as  the  leading  members  of  the  republican  party 
are  concerned,  is  unfounded.  Cromwell,  in  forcibly 
dissolving  the  Long  Parliament,  acted  the  part  of  a 
military  tyrant  and  usurper,  as  he  was,  by  overturn- 
ing the  civil  authorities  at  the  very  moment  the  Par- 
liament was  about  peacefully  to  dissolve  itself,  and  to 
call  another  elected,  by  the  suffrages  of  the^  people. 

The  dissolution  of  the  Parliament,  the  calling  of 
another,  regulating  the  succession  of  parliaments,  and 
fixing  the  ratio  of  representation,  had  been  primary 
and  important  objects  with  the  statesmen  of  the  new 
Commonwealth.  Only  three  months  after  the  instal- 
lation of  the  executive  council,   on  motion  of  Vane, 


CHArTER   IT.  69 

the  qnestion  for  tliR  di^solation  of  the  present  Pailia- 
liament  came  up  in  connection  with  the  subject  of 
calling  future  parliaments  an<l  regulating  the  elec- 
tions. On  the  loih  of  May,  the  whole  matter  was 
referred  to  a  committee  of  nine  persons,  of  which 
Vane  was  the  chairman.  Of  this  committee  Col. 
J^idney  was  a  membtT.  It  was  directed  to  sit  every 
Monday  and  Friday,  until  its  laborious  duties  were 
completed.  The  first  report  of  this  important  com- 
mittee was  uut  made  till  January  of  the  next  year, 
and  then  only  partially  acted  on.  The  labors  of  the 
committee  were  again  resumed,  and  through  this  and 
the  following  year  it  would  seem  to  have  met  more 
than  fifty  times  ;  still  no  decisive  result  was  attained. 
The  subject  was  finally  referred  to  the  committee  of 
the  whole  House,  where,  by  the  labors  of  Vane,  Sid- 
ney, and  other  true  and  tried  patriots,  a  bill  for  the 
peaceful  dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament,  the  call- 
ing of  another,  and  fixing  the  representation,  was 
matured  and  about  to  pass  at  the  very  moment  when 
Cromwell  introduced  his  soldiers  on  the  floor  of  the 
House,  and  turned  out  its  members  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet.  The  provisions  of  this  bill  will  be  pre- 
sently noticed. 

Col.  Sidney  though  an  influential  member  of  this 
important  committee,  was  absent  from  many  of  its 
deliberations.  On  the  18rh  of  July,  he  was  continued 
hy  resolution  of  the  House  in  the  government  of 
Dover  Castle,  and  his  time  seems  to  have  been  divided 
between  his  military  and  civil  duties.     The  following 


60  ALGEK^'OX   SIDXEY. 

winter  he  became  involved  in  an  unfortunate  dispute 
Vvith  his  officers  in  the  garrison  at  Dover.  A  court  mar- 
tial was  at  once  convened,  but  thinking  himself  unfairly- 
treated,  he  appealed  to  Parliament  for  redress,  who  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  investigate  the  matter,  and  in 
the  meantime  ordered  the  proceedings  of  the  court 
martial  to  be  stayed.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  court 
martial  continued  to  sit,  till  the  Parliament  noticing 
their  refractory  conduct,  summoned  three  of  its  officers 
to  the  bar  of  the  House.  The  matter  was  finally 
referred  to  the  Council  of  State,  who  on  the  28th 
March,  1652,  gave  Sidney  the  redress  he  asked,  and 
restored  him  his  horses  and  other  property  of  which 
he  had  been  deprived. 

Having  resigned  his  military  command,  and  nothing 
of  great  importance  being  before  the  Parliament,  Col. 
Sidney  went  over  on  a  visit  to  the  Hague.  Here,  on 
the  19th  of  April,  -his  impetuous  temper  drew  him 
into  a  quarrel  with  the  Earl  of  Oxford  at  a  play. 
Sidney  conceiving  himself  insulted  by  the  Earl,  sent 
him  a  challenge,  and  the  parties  proceeded  at  once  to 
Flanders,  with  their  seconds,  to  settle  their  dispute  by 
single  combat.  The  duel  was  prevented  by  the  inter- 
ference of  some  friends,  who  promptly  followed  and 
intercepted  the  parties  on  their  way  to  Flanders. 

In  the  autumn  of  1651  Col.  Sidney  returned  to 
England,  and  being  now  freed  from  his  military  en- 
gagements, he  devoted  himself  with  great  assiduity  to 
his  duties  in  the  house.  During  the  remainder  of  this, 
and  the  following  year,  he   performed  various  impor- 


CHAPTER  11.  61 

tant  services,  particularly  in  his  duties  upon  the  com- 
mittees. He  was  upon  two  committees  for  promoting 
the  union  with  Scotland,  to  accomplish  which  Yane 
was  subsequently  sent  as  a  commissioner  into  that 
country,  after  the  battle  of  Dunbar.  He  was  also  a 
member  of  the  committee  charged  with  effecting 
various  important  alterations  in  the  practice  in  courts 
of  law.  Upon  this  committee  there  were  several  of 
his  associates  who  were  not  members  of  Parliament. 
The  celebrated  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  the  most  profound 
and  accomplished  jurist  of  the  age,  was  a  member  of 
it.  He  seems  also  to  have  had  some  singular  asso- 
ciates who  appear  to  have  been  very  little  qualified 
for  the  work.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Major- 
General  Desborough  and  the  famous  preacher  Hugh 
Peters,  formerly  minister  at  Salem  in  Massachusetts, 
and  afterwards  the  chaplain  of  Cromwell,  who,  accord- 
ing to  "VVhitlocke,  "  understood  little  of  law,  was  very 
opinionative,  and  would  frequently  mention  some 
proceedings  of  law  in  Holland  wherein  he  was  altoge- 
ther mistaken."  The  committee  met  several  times  in 
the  House  of  Lords ;  but,  considering  the  nature  of 
the  times,  and  the  discordant  materials  of  which  it 
was  composed,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  little  was 
effected  by  its  labors.  Among  other  resolutions  passed 
in  the  committee,  the  following  may  be  taken  as 
a  specimen  :  *'  If  the  defendant  in  a  personal  action 
before  pleading,  tender  satisfaction  to  the  plaintiff, 
with  cost  of  suit,  and  it  appear  afterwards  at  the  trial 


62  ALGERNOIT   SIDNEY. 

to  the  jury  sufficient,  and  not  accepted  of,  the  plain- 
tiff to  lose  his  own  and  pay  the  other's  costs  of  suit."* 

Sidney  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  a  bill 
for  satisfying  those  adventurers  who  had  lent  money 
to  assist  the  government  in  suppressing  the  Irish  in- 
surgents on  an  assignment  of  the  confiscated  lands. 
This  bill  included  the  subject  of  the  arrears  due  to 
the  army  employed  in  that  service,  and  the  encourage- 
ment of  Protestant  settlers  in  Ireland  ;  and  after  a 
laborious  investigation  of  several  months,  Sidney  re- 
ported the  proceedings  complete  to  the  House. 
Finally,  on  the  25th  of  November,  1652,  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Council  of  State,  and  re- 
mained in  discharge  of  the  executive  duties  of  the 
government  until  its  overthrow  by  Cromwell  the  fol- 
lowing April. 

No  one  can  deny  in  looking  at  the  administration 
of  the  government  of  the  Commonwealth  during  the 
period  between  the  death  of  the  king  and  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Long  Parliament,  that  it  was  conducted 
with  unparalleled  vigor  and  ability.  It  is  a  common 
mistake  to  attribute  the  power  w^hich,  at  this  period, 
England  wielded  at  home  and  abroad,  and  the  proud 
eminence  she  attained  among  civilized  nations,  solely 
to  the  skill  and  genius  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  Surely 
the  statesmen  who  guided  the  vessel  of  the  Common- 
wealth through  the  rocks  on  either  side  into  a  place  of 
comparative  safety,  before  the  helm  fell  exclusively 
mto  the  powerful   hands   of  the  great  soldier,   may 

*  Roscoe's  Lives  of  Eminent  British  Lawyers,  Sir  Matthew  Hale. 


CHAPTER  n.  63 

justly  claim  at  least,  to  divide  the  glory  of  the  achieve- 
ment. We  see  not  why  the  names  of  such  men  as 
Vane,  and  Bradshaw,  and  Algernon  Sidney,  who  sat  in 
the  legislature  and  in  the  executive  councils  of  the  state, 
and  who  so  successfully  conducted  the  foreign  as  well 
as  the  domestic  administration,  while  Cromwell  was 
fighting  his  battles  of  Drogheda,  Dunbar,  and  Wor- 
cester, should  be  comparatively  forgotten,  and  their 
glory  eclipsed  by  the  halo  which  surrounds  the  name 
of  the  victorious  general  of  the  Commonwealth. 
Nothing  so  contributed  to  increase  the  power  and 
exalt  the  fame  of  England  abroad,  during  this  period, 
as  her  splendid  maritime  successes.  With  these,  cer- 
tainly, Cromwell  had  little  to  do.  The  first  war  with 
the  Republic  of  Holland  was  commenced  and  virtually 
brought  to  a  close  during  the  Long  Parliament.  Sir 
Henry  Vane  was  then  at  the  head  of  the  naval  de- 
partment ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  comparatively 
small  naval  force  at  the  command  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment, the  unparalleled  skill  and  exertions  of  that 
great  statesman,  aided  by  the  united  efforts  of  the  Par- 
liament, soon  raised  the  navy  of  the  Commonwealth 
to  a  position  to  contest  successfully  with  her  rival  the 
dominion  of  the  seas.  The  Parliament  selected  one  of 
its  members,  hitherto  known  only  as  a  plain  but  in- 
flexible republican,  destined  to  become  famous  as  a 
hero,  Blake,  to  the  command  of  the  fleet,  and  to  con- 
test with  such  captains  as  Van  Tromp  and  De  Ruyter, 
the  supremacy  of  the  ocean.  The  result  proved  the 
wisdom   of  the  choice.     We  quote  the  words  of  Sid- 


64  ALGEKXON   SIDNEY. 

ney  himself,  as  found  in  one  of  his  discourse.?,  in  vindi- 
cation of  the  fame  of  that  government  of  which  he  was 
a  member.  A  nobler  and.  a  juster  eulogy  was  never 
pronounced  on  the  deeds  of  the  republican  statesmen 
of  the  Long  Parliament. 

*'  When  Yan  Tromp  set  upon  Blake  in  Folkestone 
Bay,  the  Parliament  had  not  above  thirteen  ships 
acrainst  three  score  ,  and  not  a  man  who  had  ever  seen 
any  other  fight  at  sea  than  between  a  merchant  ship 
and  a  pirate,  to  oppose  the  best  captain  in  the  world, 
attended  with  many  others,  in  valor  and  experience 
not  much  inferior  to  him.  Many  other  difficulties 
were  observed  in  the  unsettled  state — few  ships,  want 
of  money,  several  factions,  and  some,  who,  to  advance 
particular  interests,  betrayed  the  public.  But  such 
was  the  power  of  wisdom  and  integrity  in  those  that 
sat  at  the  helm,  and  their  diligence  in  chosing  men 
only  for  their  merit,  was  blessed  with  such  suc- 
cess, that  in  two  years  our  fleets  grew  to  be  as  famous 
as  our  land  armies  ;  the  reputation  and  power  of  our 
nation  rose  to  a  greater  height  than  when  we  possessed 
the  better  half  of  France,  and  the  kings  of  France 
and  Scotland  were  our  pensioners.  All  the  states^ 
kings,  and  potentates  of  Europe  most  respectfully, 
not  to  say  submissively,  sought  our  friendship  ;  and 
Rome  was  more  afraid  of  Blake  and  his  fleet  than 
they  had  been  of  the  great  king  of  Sweden  when  he 
was  ready  to   invade  Italy  with  a  hundred  thousand 


AVarburton  calls   the  members  of  the  Long  Parlia- 


CHAPTER  n.    ,^  65 

ment  "  a  set  of  the  greatest  geniuses  for  government 
the  world  has  ever  seen  embarked  together  in  one 
common  cau^e."  Even  Hume  himself,  notwithstand- 
ing his  strong  political  bias,  and  the  injustice  he  has 
elsewhere  done  the  republicans  of  the  Commonwealth, 
bears  involuntary  testimony  to  their  great  ability  in  the 
administration  of  the  government.  Speaking  of  the 
period  of  the  battle  of  Worcester,  when  the  Republic 
had  an  army  of  eighty  thousand  soldiers  on  foot,  he 
says  :  "  The  vigor  of  the  Commonweath  and  the  great 
capacity  of  those  members  loho  had  assumed  the  gov^ 
ernment)  never,  at  any  time,  appeared  so  conspicuous." 
But  the  days  of  the  Long  Parliament  were  draw- 
ing to  a  close.  The  men  who  bore  rule  in  its  coun- 
cils, were  the  men  who  stood  in  the  path  of  Crom- 
well's ambition.  One  of  these  was  Algernon  Sidney, 
who  continued  firmly  attached  to  the  cause  of  the 
Parliament  and  the  Commonwealth,  side  by  side' 
with  Yane  and  his  noble  associates,  to  the  last.  It 
has  been  mentioned,  that  Sidney  early  encountered 
the  ill-will  of  the  lord  general,  nor  does  it  appear 
that  he  ever  was  reinstated  in  his  good  opinion,  even 
while  Cromwell  was  yet  acting  in  perfect  unison  with 
the  republican  leaders  in  Parliament.  Sidney  had  been 
strongly  recommended  by  Ludlow  to  Cromwell  for  the 
appointment  of  general  of  the  horse  in  Ireland,  and  as 
the  second  in  command  to  the  gallant  General  Ireton 
in  the  government  of  that  kingdom ;  but  Cromwell 
could  not  overcome  his  dislike  to  Sidney,  and  under 
the  pretence  of  his  being  related  to  some  of  the  royal 


6G  ,«A.LGERXOX   SIDNEY. 

party,  appointed  Ludlow  himself  to  that  station.  At 
the  time  of  Sidney's  accession  to  the  Council  of  State, 
Cromwell  was  weaving  that  web  of  intrigne,  and 
meditating  those  schemes  of  fatal  ambition,  which 
ended  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Commonwealtli.  Other 
eyes  besides  those  of  Sidney  were  now  bent  upon  the 
aspiring  sohlier,  and  his  course  was  watched  with  in- 
tense anxiety  by  all"  the  true  and  tried  republicans  in 
Parliaajent.  Even  his  old  friend,  Harry  Marten,  who 
had  stood  by  him  in  the  matter  of  the  '*  purge"  of  Parlia- 
ment, now  looked  upon  him  with  distrust,  and  pre- 
pared to  separate  from  him  for  ever. 

The  decisive  battle  of  Worcester,  the  "  crowning 
mercy,"  as  Cromwell  styled  it,  was  fought  the  pre- 
ceding fall.  The  royalists  were  utterly  subdued  ;  the 
young  king  was  a  fugitive  and  a  wanderer,  and  no 
power  in  England  was  left  to  challenge  the  supremacy 
of  the  government.  Cromwell  was  again  in  London, 
and  in  attendance  in  the  Parliament.  From  that 
point  is  to  be  traced  the  first  manifest  development  of 
his  unworthy  and  criminal  ambition.  It  is  not  our  in- 
tention here  to  follow  the  progress  of  the  quarrel  which 
fell  out  between  the  Parliament  and  the  army,  or 
rather  its  general,  Cromwell.  It  originated  in  the 
sound  policy  of  the  Parliament  of  reducing  the  army 
to  the  peace  establishment,  and  thus  annulling  the 
military  power — a  measure  extremely  distasteful  to 
Cromwell  and  his  officers,  by  whom  it  was  strenuously 
resisted.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  Sidney  co- 
operated heartily  with  Vane  in  advocating  the  measure, 


*  CHAPTER   II.  67 

and  thus  made  wider  the  breach  between  himself  and 
the  lord  general. 

The  crisis   between   the  civil   and    military  powers, 
however,  turned   upon  another  but  a  Idndred  point  of 
controversy.     Both  professed  to  be  desirous  of  a  speedy 
dissolution    of  the  old    Parliament,  but  both  were  not 
so  eagerly  anxious  for  the  convocation   of  a  new  one. 
The  conferences  toward   the   close   of  the  year  1652, 
between  the  lord  general  and  his  principal  officers,  and 
some  of  the  more   yielding   republicans,  such   as   his 
kinsman  8t.  John,  and   Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig,  preclude 
every  other  conclusion  save   that  Cromwell  was  aim- 
ing at,  if  not  conspiring  to  obtain,  the  chief  authority 
in  Siome  form   or  shape.     The   plan  he    finally  settled 
upon  was  the  dissolution  of  the  old  parliament,  leav- 
ing the  powefs  of  government  in  the  hands  of  a  few 
**  select  persons,"  or   in  other  words,  a  military  com- 
mission, which  he  knew  he  could   mould   to   his  own 
purposes.     Not  so  Sidney  and  the  republicans.     They 
desired  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  by  an  act  of  their 
own  ;   and  by  the  same  act  the  convoking  of  another 
as  the  sovereign  power  in  the   state,  based  upon    the 
broad   prir.ciple   of  popular  suffragp:  and  equal  and 
JUST  POPULAR  REPRESENTATION.      This  bill    had    bccn 
reported  by  Vane  to  the  House  from  the  committee  of 
which  Sidney  was  a  member;  and  after  being  kept  in 
committee  of  the  whole,  and  discussed  at  intervals  for 
a  period  of  eleven  months,  was  sent  back  to  the  same 
committee  to  be  perfected.     Before  the  labors  of  the 
committee  were  completed,  Vane  had  procured  a  voto 


6S  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

of    the    House,  that    the    period    of   the    dissolution 
should   be    fixed  for  the  3(1    of  November,  1653.     In 
April  of  that  year,  the  bill,  as  it  had  been  agreed  upon 
in  the   committee,  was  brought  up  before  the  House 
for  action.      Its  discussion   brought  with  it  the  final 
crisis — the  open  rupture  with  Cromwell — the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Parliament — the  overthrow  of  the  Common- ' 
wealth.      This  bill,   so    distasteful    to    Cromwell,  and 
which,  at  the  moment  of  the  dissolution  of  the  House, 
he  snatched  from  the  hands  of  the  clerk  and  destroyed, 
provided  for  the  dissolution  of  the  present  Parliament, 
and  the    calling  of  another,  to  be  elected  by  the  suf- 
frages   of  the    qualified    voters   of  the  whole   people. 
The  number  of  representatives  fixed  was  four  hundred. 
The    inequalities    of  representation  which  existed    in 
former  parliaments  were  carefully  avoided.     Ludlow,  in 
his  ''  Memoirs,"  says,  that,  some  boroughs,  with  scarcely 
a  house  in  them,  chose  two  members,  and   that  the 
county   of  Cornwall  elected   forty-four,  while  Essex, 
bearing  as  great  a  share  in  the  payment  of  taxes,  sent 
no  more  than  six  or  eight.     The  same  excellent  autho- 
rity adds,  that  the  present  bill  provided  that  the  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  should  be  "chosen  by  the  several 
counties  in  as  near  a  proportion  as  was  possible  to  the 
sums  charged  upon  them  for  the  services  of  the  state, 
and  all  men  admitted  to  be   electors  who  were  worth 
£200  in  lands,  leases,  or   goods."     The  effect  of  this 
truly  radical  reform  bill,  may  be  estimated  by  a  com- 
parison   of   the    counties   just    named,  Cornwall    and 
Essex.     It  gave   the  former   ten,  the   latter   fourteen 


CHAPTER  n.  69 

members.  It  may  also  be  mentioned  that  the  £200 
qualification  clause  was  not  the  original  proposition 
of  Vane  and  his  friends.  The  sole  qualification  they 
proposed  was  a  freehold  in  land,  or  other  profits  of  the 
yearly  value  of  40s.,  or  a  leasehold  estate  for  life  of 
the  value  of  £5,  or  for  twenty-one  years  of  the  value 
of  £20.  These  provisions  were,  however,  opposed  by 
Cromwell,  who  succeeded  in  defeating  the  friends  of 
the  bill  on  several  divisions,  and  procured  the  higher 
qualification  to  be  inserted.* 

The  contest  was  thus  narrowed  down  between 
Cromwell  and  his  officers  on  the  one  hand,  and  be- 
tween Vane,  Sidney,  and  the  republicans  in  Parlia- 
ment on  the  other,  to  this  point,  namely,  whether  the 
House  should  be  dissolved,  leaving  the  powers  of  gov- 
ernment in  the  hands  of  Cromwell  and  his  military 
cabal ;  or  whether  it  should  be  dissolved,  and  another 
chosen  by  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  installed  in  its 
stead.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  latter 
course  was  distasteful  to  the  future  dictator.  A  free 
Parliament  stood  between  him  and  the  supreme  autho- 
rity ;  and  he  resolved,  at  all  hazards,  and  at  every 
sacrifice  of  principle  to  effect  his  object. 

The  scene  of  the  final  dissolution  of  the  Long  Par- 
liament was  enacted  on  the  20th  of  April,  1653. 
About  one  hundred  members  had  assembled.  Alger- 
non Sidney  sat  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Speaker,  Len- 
thall.  With  Vane,  Marten,  Scot  and  the  principal 
members,  he  had  been  there  from  an  early  hour.    The 


70  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

act  for  tho  *^  new  representative"  had  arrived  at  its 
last  stage,  and  after  a  powerful  speech  from  Vane,  was 
about  to  pass  into  a  law.  At  this  stage  of  the  pro- 
ceedings Major  Greneral  Harrison,  then  one  of  Crom- 
well's allies,  arose  to  make  a  speech,  evidently  for  the 
purpose  of  gaining  time.  Meanwhile,  Colonel  In- 
goldsby  was  despatched  in  haste  to  the  lord  general, 
who  was  sitting  in  council  with  his  military  cabal,  at 
Whitehall.  Rushing  without  ceremony  into  the  pre- 
sence uf  Cromwell,  he  exclaimed,  ''  If  you  mean  to 
do  any  thing  decisive  you  have  no  time  to  lose  !"  The 
Greneral  immediately  rose,  ordered  a  party  of  soldiers 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  himself,  with  Tiam- 
bert  and  a  few  others,  repaired  thither.  The  ir- 
resolution of  Cromwell  is  strongly  marked  in  his 
conduct  that  day  in  the  House.  Like  Csesar,  he  hes- 
itated before  he  crossed  the  Rubicon  ;  but  Rome  and 
empire  lay  beyond.  As  if  in  mockery  of  the  outrage 
he  was  about  to  commit,  he  had  laid  aside  every  ves- 
tige of  the  soldier,  and  appeared  "  clad  in  plain  black 
clothes  with  gray  worsted  stockings."  On  entering 
the  hall,  he  '*  sat  down  as  he  used  to  do,  in  an  ordi- 
nary place."  He  listened  attentively  to  Vane,  who 
was  urging  with  warmth  and  eloquence  the  necessity 
of  dispensing  with  certain  immaterial  forms  and  pro- 
ceeding at  once  to  the  final  vote  upon  the  bill.  "  Now 
is  the  time,"  whispered  Cromwell  to  the  misguided 
Harrison.     "  /  must  do  it .'" 

"  The  work,  sir,  is  very  great  and  dangerous,"  was 
the  cautious  reply  of  Harrison. 


CHAPTER  n.  71 

*'  You  say  well,"  answered  Cromwell,  and  sat  still 
for  another  quarter  of  an  hour. 

It  appears  that  the  Speaker  was  actually  about  to 
put  the  question,*  when  Cromwell  suddenly  started 
to  his  feet  and  commenced  a  strange  and  incoherent 
harangue  against  the  Parliament  and  the  proceedings 
of  the  members.  He  soon  succeeded  in  lashing  him- 
self into  a  passion  ;  but  he  had  to  deal  with  resolute 
and  undaunted  men,  who  were  not  to  be  awed  by  the 
words  or  the  frown  of  th«  dictator.  Yane,  Marten 
and  Wentworth  successively  rose  to  answer,  but  their 
voices  were  lost  in  the  confusion.  At  length,  Sir  Pe- 
ter Wentworth  made  himself  heard,  and  hurled  the 
scathing  denunciation  at  Cromwell — '*  that  he  had 
never  heard  such  unbecominsr  lan^fuage  in  Parliament 
— language  the  more  shameful  as  it  came  from  their 
servant ;  that  servant  whom  they  had  so  highly  trusted 
and  obliged,  and  whom,  by  their  unprecedented  bounty 
they  had  made  what  he  was." 

At  these  words  Cromwell  thrust  on  his  hat  and 
sprang  to  the  centre  of  the  floor.  Eye-witnesses 
have  described!  the  shameful  scene  which  followed 
— a  scene  humiliating  to  the  greatness  of  the  vic- 
torious  general  of  the   Commonwealth,  in  which  the 

*  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig,  a  member  present,  says  :  "  We  were  laboring 
here  in  the  House  on  an  act  to  put  an  end  to  that  Parliament  and  to  call 
another.  I  desired  the  passing  of  it  with  all  my  soul.  The  question 
was  putting  for  it,  when  our  General  stood  up  and  stopped  the  question, 
and  called  in  his  Lieutenant  with  two  files  of  musketeers,  with  their  hats 
on  their  heads,  and  their  guns  loaded  with  bullets." 

t  Sidney,  Ludlow,  Hazelrig. 


T2  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

coolness  and  calm  self-reliance  of  the  conqueror  of 
Worcester  and  Naseby  fight,  seemed  to  have  degene- 
rated to  the  rant  and  bluster  of  a  common  brawler. 
He  paced  the  floor — he  stamped  and  raved  like  a 
madman.  He  applied  the  vil,est  epithets  and  used 
the  most  ignoble  language.  When  Vane  courage- 
ously rose  and  succeeded  in  making  himself  heard 
for  the  last  time,  Cromwell  sternly  interrupted  him  : — 
*' You  might  have  prevented  all  this,  but  you  area 
juggler,  and  have  not  so  Inuch  as  common  honesty." 
Then  cutting  short  his  discourse,  he  exclaimed, 
"  You  are  no  Parliament.  I  say  you  are  no  Parlia- 
ment !  I'll  put  an  end  to  your  sitting.  Begone ! 
Give  way  to  honester  men."  He  stamped  with  his 
foot  as  he  spoke  ;  the  door  was  flung  open ;  his  mus- 
keteers filed  into  the  hall,  and  drove  out  the  members 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  As  they  passed  along, 
Cromwell,  now  excited  beyond  control,  singled  out 
individually  those  whom  he  had  most  reason  to  hate 
and  loaded  them  with  opprobrium  and  insult.  One 
he  called,  by  name,  an  adulterer,  another  he  accused 
of  embezzlement,  a  third  of  fraud  and  injustice.  As 
Yane  passed  by  among  the  last,  protesting  with  earn- 
est voice,  "  This  is  not  honest ;  yea,  it  is  against 
morality  and  common  honesty,"  Cromwell  spoke  in 
a  harsh  and  troubled  tone,  unable  to  hurl  any  per- 
sonal accusation  against  his  most  formidable  rival — 
"  Sir  Harry  Yane  !  Sir  Harry  Yane  !  The  Lord  de- 
liver me  from  Sir  Harry  Yane  !" 

During  the  whole  of  this  remarkable  scene,  Sidney 


CnAPTER  II.  73 

remained  firm  at  his  post ;  but  finally,  with  his  asso- 
ciates, was  obliged  to  succumb  to  iorce  and  violence. 
From  the  journal  of  his  father.  Lord  Leicester,  pen- 
ned, undoubtedly,  on  the  relation  of  Sidney,  we  quote 
the  closing  scenes  oX  this  singular  drama  :  "  Then 
the  general,  pointing  to  the  speaker  in  his  chair,  said 
to  Harrison,  *  fetch  him  down.'  Harrison  went  to  the 
speaker  and  spoke  to  him  to  come  down,  but  the 
speaker  sat  still  and  said  nothing.  *  Take  him  doivn^'* 
said  the  general ;  then  Harrison  went  and  pulled  the 
speaker  by  the  gown,  and  he  came  down.*  It  hap- 
pened that  day  that  Algernon  Sidney  sat  next  to  the 
speaker  on  the  right  hand.  The  general  said  to  Har- 
rison, *  Put  him  out.'  Harrison  spake  to  Sidney,  but  he 
said  he  would  not  go  out,  and  sat  still.  The  general 
said  again,  '  Put  him  out.'  Then  Harrison  and  Wors- 
ley  (who  commanded  the  general's  own  regiment  of 
foot)  put  their  hands  upon  Sidney's  shoulders,  as  if 
they  would  force  him  to  go  out.  Then  he  arose  and 
went   towards    the    door.       Then   the   general   went 

*  Lenthal's  firm  conduct  on  this  occasion  is  corroborated  by  other  tes- 
timony. He  told  Harrison,  says  Ludlow,  "  that  he  would  not  come  down 
unless  he  was  forced.  'Sir,'  said  Harrison,  'I  will  lend  you  my  hand," 
and  thereupon  putting  his  hand  within  his,  the  speaker  came  down." 
Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig  gives  the  following  description :  "  The  speaker,  a 
stout  man,  was  not  willing  to  go.  He  was  so  noble  that  he  frowned^ 
and  said  he  would  not  go  out  of  the  chair  till  he  was  plucked  out» 
which  was  quickly  done,  without  much  compliment,  by  two  soldiers." 
The  resolution  displayed  by  Lenthal  on  this  occasion,  is  somewhat  re- 
markable, inasmuch  as  he  was  a  man  of  little  decision  of  character. 
Sidney's  courageous  conduct  was  characteristic,  and  such  as  he  never 
failed  to  display  on  all  occasions  when  he  had  a  right  to  sustain,  or  a 
duty  to  discharge. 


74  ALGEENOIT   SIDIITET. 

towards  the  table  where  the  mace  lay,  which  used  to 
be  carried  before  ftie  Speaker,  and  said — '  Take  away 
these  baubles.'  So  the  soldiers  took  away  the  mace." 
A.nd  thus  closed  that  famous  Parliament  which  had 
wrought  such  great  achievements  for  the  liberties  of 
the  people  of  England.  The  lord  general  seized  the 
act  of  dissolution  from  the  hands  of  the  secretary, 
locked  the  door,  and  carried  back  the  keys  with  him 
to  Whitehall,  himself  now  the  sole  depository  of  the 
power  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Sidney  immediately  retired  in  disgust  to  his  father's 
residence  at  Penshurst.  Thenceforth  he  refused  to  take 
any  part  in  Cromwell's  usurped  government,  or  in 
the  slightest  degree  to  countenance  it.  It  was  not 
until  the  reassembling  of  the  Long  Parliament,  after 
the  death  of  the  Protector  Richard,  that  he  a^ain  ap- 
peared upon  the  scene. 

The  personal  history  of  Algernon  Sidney,  as  has 
been  seen,  like  that  of  almost  every  public  man  of  that 
period,  is  connected  with  the  history  of  the  great  man 
of  the  age,  Oliver  Cromwell.  In  tracing  it  we  have 
had  frequent  occasion  to  speak  of  Cromwell,  though 
not  always  in  the  flattering  and  eulogistic  terms  which 
have  of  late  been  so  much  in  vogue  among  a  class  of 
his  admirers.  A  brief  digression  from  our  main  sub- 
ject may  not  be  out  of  place  here,  in  order  to  correct 
any  erroneous  impression  as  to  the  character  of  this 
really  great  and  extraordinary  man,  which  may  have 
been  left  by  the  relation  of  his  connection  with  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Long  Parliament, 


cnAPTER  n.  75 

Cromwell  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  striking  and 
remarkable  personages  in  history.  His  biography  has 
been  so  often  written,  and  is  so  familiar  to  the  general 
reader,  as  to  render  it  superfluous,  even  were  it  pro- 
per, to  glancef  at  it  here.  He  had  been  wild  and  dissi- 
pated in  his  youth,  but  on  a  sudden  abandoned  his 
dissolute  course  of  life,  and  adopted  the  tenets  and 
rigid  morality  of  the  strictest  sect  of  the  Puritans. 
His  religious  professions  which  have  called  forth  so 
many  contradictory  opinions  were  doubtless  sincere; 
yet  though  his  enthusiasm  was  deep  and  stern,  his 
mind  was  too  vigorous  and  well  balanced  to  suffer 
it  to  lead  him  into  those  wild  rhapsodies  which 
heated  the  imaginations  of  so  many  of  the  leading 
Puritans. 

"We  think  it  may  safely  be  asserted  that  Cromwell 
was  neither  a  hypocrite  nor  a  fanatic.  Yet,  while 
always  keenly  sensitive  to  religious  emotions,  he  did 
not  scruple,  when  occasion  required,  to  make  use  of 
his  reputation  for  sanctity  and  godliness,  for  secular 
purposes.  In  the  midst  of  his  most  pious  professions, 
and  perhaps  of  his  most  devout  feelings,  he  was  always 
the  clear-headed,  far-seeing,  practical  man  of  the 
world,  not  disposed  to  stick  at  a  point  of  metaphysics 
or  abstract  theology  in  gaining  an  end.  Perhaps  it  is 
true  that  in  his  later  career,  ambition  and  the  lust  of 
power  may  have  shared  far  more  of  his  thoughts  than 
did  his  devotional  meditations.  This  may  serve  to  ex- 
plain the  meaning  of  the  question  put  by  him  to  one  of 
his  chaplains  on  his  death-bed,  when  his  mind  return- 


76  ALGERNON-  SIDNEY. 

ed  to  those  deep  and  earnest  thoughts  on  which  it  had 
so  intently  dwelt  in  former  years — whether  it  were 
^^  possible  for  one  to  fall  from  grace  and  be  finally 
lost  ?"  And  upon  being  answered  in  the  negative,  he 
replied — "  Then  I  am  safe^  for  I  am  sure  I  was  in 
grace  once.^^ 

The  sincerity  of  Cromwell's  political  actions  and 
professions  in  the  earlier  portion  of  his  public  career, 
we.  have  as  little  reason  to  doubt.  While  he  yet  acted 
with  Vane,  Sidney,  Marten,  and  Bradshaw,  he  was 
sincerely  and  truly  a  republican.  Perhaps  his  mind 
was  among  the  very  first  to  penetrate  clearly  into  the 
future,  and  to  appreciate  the  merits  of  the  question  at 
issue.  But  the  political  honesty  of  Cromwell  was  not 
proof  against  temptation.  That  he  betrayed  the  popu- 
lar cause,  and  proved  recreant  to  his  republican  prin- 
ciples, is  true.  It  is  not  impossible,  as  some  of  his 
admirers  have  claimed,  that  he  may  have  been  per- 
fectly sincere  in  nis  vietv^s  of  public  policy,  which  led 
to  his  concentrating  in  his  own  hands  the  powers  of 
the  state,  and  that  he  was,  if  such  a  thing  be  possi- 
ble, diW  honest  usurper.  The  obvious  inference,  how- 
ever, from  the  facts  of  his  history,  seems  directly  the 
reverse  of  this.  Like  every  crafty  and  ambitious 
statesman,  Cromwell  was  not  a  stranger  to  diplomacy 
and  intrigue.  Sometimes  he  found  it  necessary  to 
avail  himself  of  the  arts  of  dissimulation,  in  which  he 
was  a  profound  adept.  He  habitually  concealed  his 
well-laid  plans,  but  generally  endeavored  to  give  a 
plausible  explanation  of  his  actions.     Nor   were  his 


CHAPTER  II.  7Y 

explanations  at  all  times  true  ones.  All  this,  however, 
inay  be  reconciled  without  the  assumption  that  he 
acted  throughout  upon  a  plan  of  systematic  hypocrisy, 
for  there  will  be  found  running  through  these  expla- 
nations, tedious  and  verbose  as  they  are,  a  subtle  and 
plausible  logic  that  may  well  have  imposed  upon  his 
own  mind  as  it  did  on  others,  arid  have  silenced,  if  it 
did  not  entirely  satisfy,  his  own  scruples.  Cromwell, 
doubtless,  carried  his  arts  of  dissimulation  too  far. 
In  his  eagerness  to  justify  his  conduct  and  prove  the 
purity  of  his  motives,  he  occasionally  descended  to 
what  the  world  might,  with  some  propriety,  call  false- 
hood.'* Yet  to  say  that  his  whole  public  career  was 
but  the  manifestation  of  a  preconcerted  system  of  hol- 
low-hearted duplicity  and  falsehood,  is  ascribing  a  lit- 
tleness to  the  character  of  this  really  great  man  which 
we  think  the  facts  of  history  do  not  warrant. 

Cromwell  was  more  than  forty  years  of  age  when  he 
first  entered  into  public  life.  The  great  capacity  of  the 
man  was  known  to  few — indeed  to  none  save,  perhaps, 
his  kinsman   John   Hampden,  who   knew  him  well. 

*  Among  the  other  moral  inconsistencies  in  this  singular  character, 
may  be  mentioned  the  fact  stated  by  Noble,  that  notwithstanding  the 
warmth  of  his  religious  zeal,  and  the  severe  outward  propriety  of  his  con- 
duct, the  Protector  is  known  to  have  indulged  in  several  not  very  repu- 
table intrigues  with  ladies  of  his  court.  The  Lady  Dysert,  afterwards 
Duchess  of  Lauderdale,  and  the  wife  of  General  Lambert,  are  mentioned 
as  his  favorites.  These  ladies  were  the  very  reverse  of  each  other  in 
mani.ers  and  accomplishments.  Lady  Dysert  is  described  as  "  beautiful, 
witty,  learned,  and  full  of  intrigue."  Mrs.  Lambert,  on  the  contrary, 
though  a  woman  of  pleasing  attractions,  was  a  bit  of  a  Puritan,  and 
^  employed  herself  only  in  praying  and  singing  of  hymns." 


Y8  ALGEEXON    SYDNEY. 

Almost  on  his  first  appearance  in  parliament,  Lord 
Digby  inquired  of  Hampden  who  that  sloven  was 
whom  he  had  just  heard  speak  in  the  House. 
Hampden  answered — "If  we  ever  come  to  a  breach 
with  the  king,  which  iJod  forbid  !  In  such  a  case,  I 
say  that  sloven  will  be  the  greatest  man  in  England!" 
And  well  was  the  opinion  of  Hampden  justified,  and 
admirably  was  his  prediction  fulfilled.  The  sagacity 
of  Cromwell,  his  prodigious  energy  of  character,  his 
rugged,  robust  manhood,  were  all  brought  into  advan- 
tageous employ  during  the  civil  war.  He  became  the 
first  soldier  of  the  age.  Subsequent  events  proved,  as 
in  the  case  of  Napoleon,  that  his  capacity  was  equally 
as  great  in  the  administration  of  government  as  in 
war.  When  once  he  had  usurped  the  supreme  author- 
ity, it  is  but  just  to  his  meinory  to  say  that  he  held 
the  reins  with  a  strong  and  steady  hand  ;  that  he  gov- 
erned wisely  and  well.  England  enjoyed  more  of 
liberty,  civil  and  religious,  under  the  Protector,  than 
she  had  ever  known  in  the  days  of  her  kings.  Reli- 
gious toleration  was  guarantied,  and  the  right  of  con- 
science respected  ;  even  the  persecuted  Jew,  the  out- 
law of  civilization,  who  for  ages  had  been  under  the 
ban  of  society  and  government,  was  no  longer  pro- 
scribed, but  was  brought  within  that  wise  and  com- 
prehensive system  of  toleration  which  the  Protector 
so  liberally  favored.  The  administration  of  Cromwell 
proved  that  he  had  a  genius  for  government — that  he  was 
no  vulgar  usurper,  but,  like  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  was  a 
man  gifted  with  that  vigor  of  intellect  and  those  great 


CHAPTER  n.  -  70 

mental  endowments  which  enabled  him  to  wield  de- 
spotic authority  for  the  glory  and  advantage  of  his 
country.  The  government  so  wisely  administered  by 
the  Long  Parliament,  lost  not  a  whit  of  its  resistless 
energy  when  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Protector. 
He  made  the  British  name  renowned  all  over  the 
world.  His  victorious  armies  defended  the  Protes- 
tant faith.  His  fleets  swept  the  sea.  His  threat  at 
once  made  the  Sultan  and  the  Roman  Pontiff  tremble. 
At  his  feet  both  France  and  Spain  were  suppliants. 
Not  a  moment,  from  the  time  of  Cromwell's  accession 
to  the  supreme  authority,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  did 
England  cease  to  rise  in  the  scale  of  European  politics  ; 
not  a  moment  did  she  pause  in  her  splendid  career, 
until  Cromwell  nearly  realized  his  proud  boast  that  he 
would  make  the  name  of  Engli>««hman  as  much  honor- 
ed as  that  of  Roman  had  been. 

Yet  notwitstanding  the  vast  capacity  and  splendid 
achivements  of  this  celebrated  man,  the  errors  (to  call 
them  by  no  harsher  name)  of  his  political  course  are 
too  glaring  to  be  concealed.  His  conduct  upon  the 
trial  of  the  king  may  be  entirely  justified  by  the  same 
liberal  judgment  that  absolves  Bradshaw  and  his  mble 
associates.  Up  to  this  time  we  have  every  reason  to 
believe  that  he  was  sincere  and  honest  in  his 
attachment  to  the  popular  cause.  Ambition  and  the 
lust  of  power  had  not  yet  found  a  chance  to  tamper 
with  his  conscience.  It  was  not  until  after  his  Irish 
campaign,  after  his  splendid  victory  at  Dunbar,  after 
his  "  crowning  mercy"  at  Worcester,  which  completely 


80  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

annihilated  the  power  of  the  enemies  of  the  Common- 
wealth in  the  three  kingdoms,  and  made  him  the  idol 
of  the  army,  that  Cromwell  was  seduced  from  his  alle- 
giance to  the  popular  cause,  and  was  drawn  away  to 
follow  the  path  of  ambition  which  his  splendid  suc- 
cesses had  laid  open  before  him.  The  forcible  disso- 
lution of  the  Long  Parliament  was  the  first  palpable 
manifestation  of  the  new  policy  he  had  adopted.  It 
gave  the  friends  of  republicanism  distinctly  to  under- 
stand that  he  had  formally  cut  loose  from  the  common 
cause,  and  meant  to  trample  under  his  feet  the  rights 
of  popular  representation.  At  this  point  the  best  and 
truest  friends  of  the  Commonwealth,  Sidney,  Vane, 
Bradshaw,  and  Marten  abandoned  him.  The  parlia- 
ment which  he  and  his  officers  summoned,  themselves 
nominating  the  members^  known  in  history  as  '^  Bare- 
bones  Parliament,"  he  found  useless.  He  resolved  to 
dissolve  it.  The  majority  of  the  members  fell  in  with 
his  plan  and  tendered  him  their  resignation.  The 
minority,  among  whom  was  General  Harrison,  the 
same  that  had  assisted  to  pull  Sidney  and  the  Speaker 
from  their  seats,  refused.  The  scene  of  the  Long  Par- 
liament was  re-enacted.  To  the  summons  of  Colonels 
Groffe  and  "White  to  disband,  Harrison,  now  no  longer 
the  dupe  of  Cromwell,  asked  these  officers  for  their 
warrant ;  "  they  returned  no  answer,  but  went  and 
fetched  two  files  of  musquetiers,  and  did  as  good  as 
force  them  out."  A  few  days  after.  General  Lambert, 
in  the  name  of  the  army  and  the  three  np.tions,  in- 
vested Cromwell  with  the  title  and  dignities  of  Lord 


CHAPTER  n.  81 

Protector  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  published  an  in- 
strument of  government,  how  sanctioned  or  by  whom 
written  was  best  ivnown  to  Cromwell  himself.  Such 
was  the  natural  sequel  to  the  forcible  dissolution  of 
the  Long  Parliament,  and  such  the  manner  in  which 
Cromwell  usurped  the  supreme  power.  This  step 
once  taken,  his  whole  subsequent  career  is  explained. 
He  stood  before  the  world  confessedly  an  usurper, 
holding  his  power  by  the  sword,  and  the  might  of  the 
omnipotent  dictator  made  the  right  when  he  forced  a 
portion  of  one  of  his  parliaments  to  sign  a  pledge  of 
fidelity  to  his  person  and  government — when  he  dis- 
solved another  at  his  own  pleasure,  because  he  could 
net  control  it — when  he  turned  an  hundred  of  its 
members  out  of  doors — when  he  threw  Yane,  and  Mar- 
ten, and  Bradshaw  into  prison,  and  when  he  quartered 
his  rnilitary  governors  and  their  satellites  over  England. 
The  wisdom  of  his  civil  administration,  the  genius  dis- 
played in  his  foreign  policy,  the  glories  of  his  govern- 
ment at  home  and  abroad,  cannot  conceal  these  things, 
nor  convince  us  that  Oliver  Cromwell  did  not  prove 
untrue  to  the  great  trust  which  the  battles  of  Dunbar 
and  Worcester  placed  in  his  hands,  and  did  not  sacri- 
fice the  liberties  of  his  country  to  unholy  ambition. 
It  was  the  melancholy  and  oft  repeated  lesson  of  suc- 
cessful resistance  to  tyranny,  followed  by  military 
usurpation.  The  Revolution,  it  is  true,  wrought  great 
things  for  the  general  cause  of  freedom,  yet  on  the 
whole  it  was  a  failure  :  but  what  might  not  that  revo- 
lution have  done  for  the  people  of  England,  if  tho 
4* 


82  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

great  soldier  had   remained  steadfast  and  true  to  the 
cause  of  the  people  and  liberty  ! 

A  widely  different  character  was  that  of  Sir  Henry 
Yane,  commonly  called  the  younger,  one  of  the  noblest 
and  brightest  names  in  the  roll  of  British  statesmen. 
Yane,  like  Sidney,  was  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  oldest 
families  of  the  English  nobility.  Like  Sidney  he  was 
also  a  dissenter  from  the  Church  of  England,  and 
embraced  the  doctrines  of  the  Puritans.  Like  Sidney 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Long  Parliament,  but  refused 
to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  king.  Like  Sidney  he  boldly 
faced  Oliver  Cromwell  in  his  march  to  absolute  power. 
Like  him  he  remained  steadfast  and  faithful  to  the 
end  to  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  freedom,  and 
dying  like  him,  upon  the  scaffold,  proclaimed  his  en- 
tire faith  in  the  principles  of  his  whole  life,  and  his 
bright  anticipations  for  the  future.  *'  I  die  in  the  cer- 
tain faith  and  foi;esight  that  this  cause  shall  have  its 
resurrection  in  my  death.  My  blood  will  be  the  seed 
sown  by  which  this  glorious  cause  will  spring  up  which 
God  w^ill  speedily  raise." 

The  profound  intellect  of  Yane,  and  his  genius  as  a 
statesman,  as  well  as  the  beautiful  consistency  and 
purity  of  his  character,  have  rarely  been  appreciated. 
The  English  historians  of  the  school  of  Clarendon  and 
Hume  have  done  less  justice  to  his  memory  than  to 
that  of  almost  any  other  public  man  of  the  age 
Clarendon,  his  bitter  personal  enemy,  is  indeed  forced 
to  concede  his  great  capacity — that  he  was  a  man  of 
"  extraordinary  parts,  a  pleasant  wit,  and  a  great  un- 


CHAPTER  n.  83 

derstanding ;"  but  Clarendon's  mind,  distorted  by  per- 
sonal and  party  prejudice,  is  unable  to  conceive,  or  if 
it  does,  has  not,  the  magnanimity  to  describe,  the  char- 
acter of  Vane  in  anything  like  truthful  colors.  He 
accuses  him  of  possessing  "rare  dissimulation,"  and 
if  not  superior  to  Hampden,  of  being  **  inferior  to  no 
other  man  in  all  mysterious  artifices.'''^  The  political 
bigot  Clarendon  accuses  the  most  liberal-minded  of 
his  contemporary  statesmen  of  religious  fanaticism, 
and  even  does  not  hesitate  to  utter  or  insinuate,  what 
he  must  have  known  was  the  grossest  of  calumnies, 
that  Yane  believed  h\mse\i  tnajpired,  and  that  he  was 
the  person  "  destined  to  reign  over  the  saints  a  thou- 
sand years."''^  Such  are  the  sources  from  which  Eng- 
lish history  is  derived.  Clarendon,  speaking  of  Vane's 
celebrated  and  successful  negotiations  with  the  com- 
missioners of  Scotland,  to  induce  that  nation  to  unite 
with  the  Parliament,  says — "  There  need  no  more  be 
said  of  his  ability  than  that  he  was  chosen  to  cozen  and 
deceive  a  whole  nation  which  excelled  in  craft  and 
cunning,  which  he  did  with  notable  pregnancy  and 
dexterity."  Hume,  following  Clarendon,  was  by  no 
means  insensible  to  Ihe  greatness  of  Vane  as  a  states- 
man, and  speaks  of  his  splendid  parliamentary  talents 
and  his  capacity  for  business ;  but  Hume  could  not 
let  pass  the  opportunity  of  depreciating  the  honest  re- 
publican and  the  devout  Christian.  His  writings,  he  tells 

*  A  wild  but  small  sect  of  enthusiasts,  o  whom  General  Harrison 
was  one,  believtd  that  '"King  Jesus", was  about  to  appear  and  reign  on 
earth  for  a  thousand  years.    They  were  called  "  Fifth  Monarchy  men.'* 


84:  ALGEENOIf   SIDNEY. 

US,  are  "  absolutely  unintelligible  ;  no  traces  of  elo- 
quence, or  common  sense  appear  in  them."  Hume's 
opinions  of  Yane's  writings  may  well  b6  placed  on  a 
par  with  his  opinions  of  the  writings  of  Sidney  and 
Locke,  which  he  calls  "compositions  the  most  despi- 
cable for  style  and  matter."  Criticism  upon  such 
opinions  which  have  found  their  way  into  grave  histo- 
ries is  idle.  It  is  delightful,  however,  to  find  at  the 
present  day  these  opinions  fast  becoming  obsolete,  and 
the  prejudices  of  the  past  wearing  away  under  the  en- 
lightened judgments  of  men  of  no  less  penetrating  and 
more  liberal  minds,  than  those  of  some  of  the  histo- 
rians mentioned.  The  writings  which  to  Hume  were 
absolutely  unintelligible,  and  in  which  he  could  find 
no  traces  of  eloquence  or  even  .common  sense,  are  thus 
spoken  of  by  that  accomplished  scholar  and  statesman, 
Sir  James  Mackintosh : 

"  Sir  Henry  Vane  was  one  of  the  most  profound 
minds  that  ever  existed  ;  not  inferior  perhaps  to  Bacon.. 
His  works,  which  are  theological,  are  extremely  rare, 
and  disjplay  astonishing  powers.  They  are  remark- 
able as  containing  the  first  direct  assertion  of  liberty 
of  conscience." 

The  man  whom  Clarendon  found  nothing  but  a  reli^ 
gious  fanatic,  full  of  rare  dissimulation  and  all  myste- 
rious artifices,  receives  from  the  pen  of  our  own  histo- 
rian, Bancroft,  its  beautiful  and  just  tribute  : 

"  A  man  of  the  purest  mind  ;  a  statesman  of  spot- 
less integrity  ;  whose  name  the  progress  of  intelligence 
and  liberty  will  erase  from  the  rubric  of  fanatics  and 


CHAPTER   11.  85 

traitors;  and  insert  high  among  the  aspirants  after 
truth  and  the  martys  for  liberty."  Such  indeed  was 
Vane.  Such  did  he  appear  to  the  best  and  purest 
men  of  his  own  time — to  Roger  "Williams  the  pioneer 
of  religious  liberty  in  the  wilderness  of  America — t^^ 
Sidney  and  to  Bradshaw,  the  devoted  champions  o 
civil  freedom  in  his  own  country — to  his  friend  Johr 
Milton,  who  knew  him  well,  and  offered  him  the 
homage  of  his  genius  in  words  so  well  known. 

"  Vane,  young  in  years  but  in,  sage  counsels  old, 
Than  whom  a  better  senator  ne'er  held 
The  helm  of  Rome  when  gowns  not  arms  repelled 
The  fierce  Epirot  and  th'  African  bold,"  &c. 

The  name  of  Sir  Henry  Vane  is  connected  with  the 
history  of  our  own  country.  He  was  one  of  the  ear- 
liest governors,  of  the  colony  of  Massachusets.  Unable 
to  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience  in  England,  he  turned 
his  eye  upon  that  band  of  hardy  pioneers  who  had  made 
their  homes  in  the  wilderness  of  America,  and,  against 
the  remonstrances  of  his  father  and  friends,  he  em- 
barked upon  the  ocean,  to  share  the  perils  and  hard- 
ships of  the  pilgrims  in  the  new  world.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-four,  and  only  a  year  after  his  arrival  in  the 
colony,  he  was  elected  governor  of  Massachusetts. 
His  brief  but  stormy  administration,  was  conducted 
with  a  firmness  and  wisdom  beyond  his  years,  and 
withal  in  a  spirit  of  liberality  which  proves  him  as  a 
statesman  to  have  been  far  i^  advance  of  his  age. 
He  returned  to  England  in  the  year  1637.     Events 


86  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

were  fast  ripening  for  that  formidable  convulsion  which 
subsequently  shook  the  kingdom — the  contest  between 
the  principles  of  absolute  monarchy  and  popular  liberty. 
He  returned  to  take  part  in  it.  He  came  to  enrol  him- 
self among  the  people — to  fight  for  those  high  princi- 
Aes  of  civil  and  religious  freedom  which  he  had  pro- 
jessed  in  the  new  world,  and  to  prove  the  sincerity  of^ 
the  actions  of  his  whole  life  by  a  martyr's  heroism  upon 
the  scaffold. 

Yane  was  elected  a  member  of  the  ever  memorable 
Long  Parliament,  having  been  also  a  member  of  the 
Parliament  which  immediately  preceded  it.  He  at  once 
took  a  prominent  stand  in  the  ranks  of  its  illustrious 
popular  leaders.  Among  these,  after  the  death  of  Pym 
and  Hampden,  Vane,  though  still  a  young  man— but 
little  more  than  thirty  years  of  age — stood  confessedly 
the  ablest  and  first.  In  ]  643  he  concluded  his  cele- 
brated negotiation  with  the  Scotch  commissioners. 
Clarendon,  after  mentioning  the  name  of  Vane  as  one 
of  the  English  commissioners,  says — "the  others  need 
not  be  named,  since  he  luas  all  in  any  business  where 
others  were  joined  with  him."  He  co-operated,  as  we 
have  seen,  with  Cromwell  in  procuring  the  re-organi^a- 
tion  of  the  army.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  to 
treat  with  the  king  at  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  in  almost 
every  other  great  public  measure  of  the  time,  the  name 
of  Sir  Harry  Vane  prominently  appears.  But  when 
Cromwell's  soldiers  under  Col.  Pride  ''  purged"  a  por- 
tion of  the  recusant  Presbyterian  majority  out  of  the 
Parliament,  Vane,  though  an  Independent,  refused  to 


CHAPTER  n.  8T 

share  in  such  a  sad  triumph,  or  sanction  so  gross  an 
outrage  against  the  people's  representatives.  He  im- 
mediately absented  himself  from  Parliament,  and  did 
not  re-appear  until  after  the  trial  and  death  of  the 
king,  a  proceeding  which,  with  Sidney,  he  entirely 
disapproved,  being  in  favor  of  the  wiser  and  more 
politic  course-^— the  deposing,  and  not  the  death  of  the 
monarch.  But  Vane  cordially  and  faithfully,  and 
energetically  supported  the  new  government  and  the 
commonwealth.  He  took  his  seat  in  the  executive 
council,  of  which  Bradshaw  was  president.  His  com- 
manding talents  and  experience  at  once  placed  him  in 
a  prominent  and  leading  position.  He  was  at  the  head 
of  the  naval  department  when  the  war  with  Holland 
came  on.  The  disadvantageous  terms  under  which 
England  entered  into  the  war,  and  its  successful  issue, 
have  been  spoken  of  in  the  extract  already  quoted  from 
Sidney.  Much  of  that  success  is  undoubtedly  due  to 
the  genius  and  statesmanship  of  Vane,  although 
Cromwell  when  he  arose  to  the  supreme  power  main- 
tained the  superiority  of  the  Commonwealth  ;  and  the 
successful  soldier  has  thus  appropriated  to  himself  a 
fame  which  more  justly  belongs  to  the  less  pretending 
statesman. 

Yane's  noble  stand  against  Cromwell's  usurpation, 
his  efforts  to  pass  the  bill  for  a  popular  representation, 
and  his  courageous  conduct  on  the  day  of  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Long  Parliament,  have  been  already  spoken 
of.  Like  Sidney  he  refused  to  accept  office  or  employ- 
ment under  the  Protector,    and  remained   in  private 


88  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

life  until  the  re- assembling  of  the  Long  Parliament. 
So  bitter  were  Cromwell's  feelings  against  him,  that  ho 
caused  him  to  be  arrested  and  imprisoned  on  the  pub- 
lication of  one  of  his  ablCvSt  works,  *'  A  Healing  Ques- 
tion," addressed  to  Cromwell,  w^herein  he  urges  the 
Protector  to  establish  the  public  liberties  by  a  funda- 
mental CONSTITUTION  and  a  popular  representation. 

On  the  Restoration,  Vane  was  excepted  from  the 
general  amnesty,  but  not  until  the  king  had  pledge  1 
the  Commons  that  sentence  of  death  should  not  be 
passed  upon  him.  The  pledge  was  shamelessly  vio- 
lated. Yane,  after  suffering  imprisonment  nearly  two 
years,  was  aaraigned  and  tried  for  high  treason.  He 
conducted  his  defence  with  the  most  consummate 
ability  and  manly  courage.  It  was  every  W'ay  glo- 
rious. He  fearlessly  and  proudly  justified  his  politi- 
cal sentiments  and  his  whole  public  career,  in  the  face 
of  a  tyrannical  government  and  an  abject  court.  He 
had  defended  the  liberties  of  Englishmen  against  the  for- 
midable power  of  Charles  I. ;  he  had  boldly  faced  Oliver 
Cromwell  in  his  march  to  arbitrary  power  ;  he  had 
denounced  with  scorn  and  contempt  the  feeble  Richard 
in  his  own  Parliament ;  it  was  not  for  such  a  man  to 
purchase  favor,  or  even  life,  by  an  abandonment  of  prin- 
ciple, or  a  truckling  sycophancy  to  the  restored  monarch. 
Yane  contended  with  great  force  of  argument  that 
he  had  acted  under  the  authority  of  a  Parliament  of 
the  people,  which  could  commit  no  treason,  and  that 
Charles  H.  being  out  of  possession  and  not  de  facto 
king,   no  treason   could   be   committed  against  him. 


CHAPTER  n.  89 

For  several  days  he  baffled  his  judges  and  the  orowa 
lawyers  ;  but  Clarendon  and  Charles  had  resolved  that 
Yane,  as  a  man  of  ''  mischievous  activity"  must  die.* 
He  was  condemned  contrary  to  law,t  and  sentenced 
to  be  executed.  He  walked  with  "  a  serene,  a  cahn, 
and  almost  a  divine  composure"  to  the  scaflpDld.  His 
last  thoughts  rested  upon  the  *'  cause"  which  was  so 
often  on  his  lips,  and  for  which  he  so  cheerfully  laid 
down  his  life.  *'  I  bless  the  Lord  I  have  not  deserted 
the  righteous  cause  for  which  I  suffer,"  he  was  heard 
to  say.  For  a  moment  he  prayed  upon  the  scaflbld 
that  God  would  enable  his  servant  who  was  about  to 
suffer  "to  glorify  thee  in  the  discharge  of  7iis  duty  to 
thee  and  to  his  country'^'^  then  stretching  out  his 
hands  the  executioner  at  a  blow  severed  his  head  from 
his  body. 

The  theory  of  government  and  political  principles 
entertained  by  Vane,  have  been  freely  indicated  in 
this  work.  They  may  be  briefly  summed  up  in  these 
three  leading  ideas,  which  formed  the  basis  of  a  bill 
he  reported  to  Parliament  for  establishing  the  govern- 
ment on  the  foundation  of  a  democratic  constitution. 

1st.  That  ?i  fundamental  constitution^  limiting  the 
powers  of  government,  ought  first  to  be  established. 

*  After  the  trial  the  king  wrote  to  Clarendon,  reminding  him  that  Vane 
on  his  trial,  had  been  '*  so  insolent  as  to  justify  all  he  had  done."  "  If 
he  was  given  new  occasion  to  be  hanged,-'  remarked  the  faithless 
monarch,  '"  certainly  he  is  too  dangerous  a  man  to  let  live,  if  we  can 
honestly  put  him  out  of  the  icayP 

t  The  highest  authorities  on  the  criminal  law,  Hale,  Hawkins,  Foster 
agree  in  this. 


90  ALGERNON  SID2^T. 

2(1.  That  by  this  constitution  monarchy  should  be 
declared  destructive  to  the  people's  liberties. 

3d.  That  magistrates  should  have  no  power  to  ex- 
ercise compulsion    in  matters  of  faith  and  worship. 

In  these  elementary  propositions  is  contained  Vane's 
whole  political  creed.  They  assert  the  cardinal  truths 
which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  our  own  institutions. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  his  elevated 
conceptions  of  religious  freedom,  or  to  admire  his 
ceaseless  and  noble  efforts  in  its  behalf.  Freedom  of 
intellect  and  freedom  of  wx.)rship  he  regarded  even 
more,  if  possible,  than  political  liberty,  as  the  inalien- 
able right  of  mankind.  For  this  faith  of  his  life  he 
was  always  ready  to  sacrifice  himself.  From  the 
commencement  of  his  public  career  to  his  last  hour  on 
the  scaffijld,  he  continued  to  assert  and  defend  it. 
Never,  to  the  time  of  his  death,  did  he  cease  to  be  the 
consistent  and  fearless  champion  of  universal  tolera- 
tion. He  plead  alike  for  Biddle  and  the  gift^ed  Mrs. 
Hutchinson.  Over  Jew  as  well  as  Grentile — over  hea- 
then as  well  as  Christian,  he  was  willing  the  state 
should  throw  the  broad  aegis  of  its  protection.  He 
heard  unmoved  the  fiery  denunciations  of  the  pious, 
though  somewhat  narrow-minded  Baxter  ;  he  listened 
with  calmness  to  reproof  from  his  friends,  when  they 
gently  chided  him  for  giving  expression  to  what  they 
were  pleased  to  consider  as  latitudinarian  and  dan- 
gerous doctrines.  But  the  reproof  died  away  and  the 
denunciations  fell  harmless  at  his  feet,  as  he  met 
then>  with  the  noble  reply  that  he  dared  not  exclude 


CHAPTER   n.  91 

''  even  th'O  heathen  from  his  charity,  since  in  doing 
that  he  might  shut  out  those  whom  Christ,  the  great 
head  of  the  Church, 'might  possibly  at  the  final  day 
acknowledge  and  welcome  as  his  own." 

In  popular  estimation  the  names  of  Pym  and  Hamp- 
den, as  the  champions  of  English  liberty,  entirely 
eclipse  that  of  ^ir  Harry  Yane.  In  our  view,  stand- 
ing upon  the  vantage  ground  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, and  in  the  midst  of  a  more  extended  and  success- 
ful development  of  democratic  government  than  the 
world  has  yet  seen,  we  should  say  this  was  but 
another  of  those  errors  which  history  has  imposed 
upon  mankind.  Neither  Hampden  nor  Pym  compre- 
hended in  its  full  extent,  the  whole  theory  of  popular 
liberty.  Their  effort  was  to  destroy  arbitrary  power, 
to  reform  certain  gross  abuses,  and  to  secure  the  inde- 
pendence of  Parliament.  They  wished,  however,  to 
preserve,  not  to  destroy,  the  constitution  as  it  existed, 
and  the  monarchy  ;  they  fought  not  against  the  king's 
person  but  his  prerogative.  Vane's  views  went  much 
further  than  this.  Inferior  in  intellect  to  neither  Pym 
nor  Hampden,  as  a  statesman  he  was  superior  to  both. 
He  comprehended  the  theory  of  democratic  liberty  and 
progress  as  we  understand  it  on  this  side  of  the  At- 
lantic;  and  he  proposed  during  his  public  career  and 
boldly  advocated  its  cardinal  principles,  such  as  free  re- 
ligious ^s  well  as  civil  liberty,  the  separation  of  church 
and  state,  popular  representation,  and  equal  suffrage, 
the  responsibility  of  the  executive,  and  a  written  con-^ 
STiTUTioN.     While   Pym  and  Hampden,  the  devoted 


92  ALGERNOIT  SIDNEY. 

champions  of  English  constitutional  liberty  against 
arbitrary  power,  are  justly  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of 
their  countrymen,  Yane  deserves  the  admiration  as 
well  as  the  gratitude  of  posterity  and  the  world,  as 
the  statesman  whose  far-reaching  intellect,  in  an  age 
of  intolerance  in  religion  and  absolutism  in  govern- 
ment, comprehended  the  full  truth  of  the  democratic 
principle,  and  stood  forth  the  unflinching  champion  of 
the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of  the  people.* 

*  In  the  foregoing  reflections  on  Vane  and  Cromwell,  the  author  has 
freely  extracted  from  two  magazine  articles  written  by  him  and  hereto- 
fore published. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

Sidney's  contemporaries — Bradshaw — Milton — Marten — Scot — Blake — 
Fairfax — St.  John — Ireton— Sidney  in  retirement  at  Penshurst — 
Again  visits  the  Hague — John  De  Witt — His  character  as  a  statesman 
— Meeting  between  him  and  Sidney — Patriotism  and  ability  of  De 
Witt — His  death — Sidney  returns  from  the  Hague — Retires  again  to 
Penshurst — His  literary  pursuits — His  amusements — Continued 
hostility  to  CromweAl  and  his  government — Incurs  the  displeasure 
of  his  brother,  Lord  Lisle — Letter  of  Lord  Lisle  to  his  father — 
Downfall  of  the  protectoral  government — Reassembling  of  the  Long 
Parliament — Sidney  again  a  member  of  Parliament — In  the  executive 
council — Close  of  his  legislative  career — Reflections  on  the  counter 
Revolution. 

The  connection  of  Col.  Sidney  with  the  army  and 
the  Long  Parliament,  brought  him  into  close  and  inti- 
mate relations  with  the  leading  republican  statesmen 
of  the  Commonwealth.  In  the  last  chapter  we  have 
incidently  glanced  at  the  characters  and  public  actions 
of  two  men  of  that  period,  most  eminent  for  ability 
and  influence — Cromwell  and  Vane — whose  histories 
intimately  blend  with  that  of  Sidney.  The  subject  is 
sufficiently  inviting  to  tempt  a  further  digression,  and 
to  induce  us  to  notice  briefly  two  or  three  others  of 
Sidney's  contemporaries,  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  who 


94:  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

SO  ably  upheld  the  fortunes  of  the  English  Common- 
wealth. 

Among  these  there  is  none  whose  character  stands 
out  so  bold  and  striking,  in  its  stern  and  almost  severe 
distinctness  of  outline,  as  does  that  of  John  Bradshaw. 
The  mention  of  the  name  at  once  brings  before  us  a 
vivid  and  distinct  conception  of  the  chief  judge  who 
sat  on  the  tribunal  which  condemned  Charles  Stuart 
as  a  traitor.  We  imagine  a  man  of  a  grave  and  ma- 
jestic presence,  as  he  has  been  described,  seated  on  his 
crimson  velvet  chair  in  Westminster  Hall,  surrounded 
by  his  seventy  associate  judges,  dressed  in  a  loose  robe 
of  scarlet,  his  massive  forehead  partially  concealed  by  a 
high-crowned,  broad-brimmed  beaver,  lined  with  plated 
steel, =^  his  austere  and  inflexible  features  betraying  no 
shadow  of  emotion,  and  his  deep  and  thoughtful  eye 
fixed  full  upon  the  royal  criminal  arraigned  before 
him. 

Bradshaw  was  educated  a  lawyer  at  Gray's  Inns, 
and  for  many  years  before  entering  public  life,  enjoyed 
an  extensive  practice.  Though  not  a  member  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  he  early  entered  into  the  views  of 
the  popular  party,  and  sided  with  the  Parliament  in 
all  its  rneasures  against  the  king.  He  was  the  kins- 
man of  John  Milton  by  the  mother's  side.  The  poet, 
whose  political  and  religious  sympaties,  as  well  as  his 
kindred  blood,  brought  him  into  the  most  intimate 
relations  with  Bradshaw,  has  left  a  sketch  of  his 
character,  in  the  second  defence  pro  populo  Anglicano, 

*  The  hat  worn  by  Bradshaw  on  the  trial,  is  still  preserved  at  Oxford. 


CHAPTEE  m.  95 

so  truthful,  and  so  well  justified  by  all  that  we  know 
of  his  life  and  opinions,  that  we  cannot  refrain  from 
presenting  the  passage.  "  Being  of  a  distinguished 
family,  he  devoted  the  early  part  of  his  life  to  the 
study  of  the  laws  of  his  country.  Hence  he  became 
an  able  and  an  eloquent  pleader,  and  subsequently 
discharged  all  the  duties  of  an  uncorrupt  judge.  In 
temper  neither  gloomy  nor  severe,  but  gentle  and 
placid,  he  exercij>ed  in  his  own  house  the  rights  of  hos- 
pitality in  an  exemplary  manner,  and  proved  himself 
on  all  occasions  a  faithful  and  unfailing  friend.  Ever 
eager  to  acknowledge  merit,  he  assisted  the  deserving 
to  the  utmost  of  his  power.  Forward  at  all  times  to 
publish  the  talents  and  worth  of  others,  he  was  always 
silent  respecting  his  own.  No  one  more  ready  to  for- 
give, he  was  yet  impressive  and  terrible  when  it  fell 
to  his  lot  to  pour  shame  on  the  enemies  of  his  country. 
If  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  was  to  be  defended,  if  the 
favor  or  the  violence  of  the  great  was  to  be  withstood, 
it  was  impossible,  in  that  case,  to  find  an  advocate 
more  intrepid  or  more  eloquent,  whom  no  threats,  no 
terrors,  and  no  rewards  could  seduce  from  the  plain 
path  of  rectitude."  Such  indeed  was  Bradshaw. 
Possessed  of  such  attributes  of  character — of  an  in- 
tegrity and  a  purity  of  life  against  which  no  enemy 
has  dared  to  breathe  a  whisper — of  an  impressive  and 
majestic  appearance — of  a  singularly  resolute  and  de- 
termined mind,  and  a  clear,  cool,  discriminating  judg- 
ment, he  was  precisely  the  man  to  preside  in  the  high 
coupt  of  justice  convened  to  try  the  king.     Bradshaw 


96  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

did  not  shink  from  the  duty.  While  nearly  half  the 
commissioners'  appointed  refused  ornegleoted  to  attend 
the  sittings  of  the  court,  Bradshaw  was  present  from 
day  to  day,  and  as  president  arraigned  the  king,  main^ 
tained  the  authority  and  jurisdiction  of  the  court 
throughout,  against  his  objections,  and  finally  passed 
sentence  upon  him  as  a  "  tyrant,  traitor,  and  public 
enemy."  Perhaps  a  tribunal  more  imposing  than  this 
*'High  Court  of  Justice"  never  assembled.  All  its 
proceedings  were  dignified  and  impressive ;  nor  could 
they  fail  to  be  so,  while  John  Bradshaw  presided  over 
its  deliberations.  His  deportment,  at  times,  seems  to 
be  marked  with  almost  too  great  a  degree  of  austerity 
and  sternness,  but  this  was  the  unavoidable  result  of 
the  singular  position  in  which  he  was  placed — a  posi- 
tion that  would  have  embarrassed  a  man  of  less 
decision  of  character  and  greatness  of  mind,  than 
Bradshaw.  "When,  in  a  full  and  firm  voice,  he  had 
pronounced  sentence  on  Charles,  not  as  a  king,  but  as 
a  prisoner  at  the  bar  of  his  peers,  the  condemned 
monarch  earnestly  desired  to  be  heard.  Bradshaw  in- 
terrupted him  with  the  words — "  Sir,  you  are  not  to 
be  heard  after  sentence."  Again  Charles  strove  .to 
speak,  but  was  again  silenced  by  the  stern  mandate — 
*' Guards,  withdraw  your  prisoner."  Once  more,  in 
accents  of  deep  emotion,  he  asked  to  be  heard  as  a 
favor,  and  not  a  right ;  but  the  stern  monasy liable  from 
the  lips  of  the  president,  *'Hold!"  was  the  only  an- 
swer to  the  prayer,  and  the  king  was  almost  forcibly 
carried  out  of  the  hall. 


CHAPTEE  m.  97 

Bradshaw  was  appointed  president  in  the  new  ex- 
ecutive council,  where  he  met  with  Oliver  Cromwell 
as  his  colleague.  We  have  seen  that  up  to  this  time 
Cromwell  had  acted  consistently  with  the  common- 
wealth's-men.  He  had  been  upon  terms  of  friendship, 
and  even  confidence,  not  only  with  Bradshaw,  but  with 
Vane,  Milton,  Marten  and  Sidney.  It  was  not  until 
after  the  battle  of  Worcester,  that  Bradshaw  began  to 
suspect  the  sincerity  of  Cromwell.*  That  suspicion 
once  confirmed,  no  one  displayed  a  firmer  courage  in 
opposing  the  designs  of  the  lord-general,  or  battled 
more  manfully  to  sustain  the  Commonwealth.  With 
Yane,  and  the  republicans  of  the  Commonwealth,  he 
had  borne  an  influential  and  prominent  part  in  that 
successful  administration  which  followed  the  first  three 
years  of  the  new  government,  himself,  in  many  re- 
spects, the  first  man  in  England  in  station  and  honor, 
receiving,  as  president  of  the  council,  foreign  ambas- 

*  A  letter  of  Bradshaw  to  Cromwell  about  the  date  of  the  battle  of 
"Worcester,  is  preserved,  which  indicates,  on  the  part  of  the  writer,  the 
utmost  confidence  in  the  lord-general.  A  deep,  religious  tone  pervades 
this  letter,  like  those  of  all  the  Puritans,  but  it  is  staid  and  sober,  like 
the  character  of  Bradshaw,  whose  well-balanced  mind  never  was  car- 
ried away  by  the  exaggerated  enthusiasm  of  the  period.  It  commences 
as  follows  : — "  My  Lord — By  the  hands  of  this  trusty  bearer,  accept,  I 
pray  you,  of  this  paper-remembrance  and  salutation  of  him  who,  both 
upon  the  publique  and  his  owne  private  account,  is  very  much  your 
debtor,  and  with  other  your  poore  friends  here,  prayes  for  and  adores 
the  manifestation  of  God's  gracious  presence  with  you  in  all  your  weighty 
affaires,  which  as  they  are  undertaken  in  zeal  to  God's  glory  and  his 
people's  good  will,  through  contynuance  of  the  same  dyvine  presence 
and  mercy,  be  crowned  with  answerable  successe." 

5 


98  ALGEENON   SIDNEY. 

sadors,  and  representing  the  executive  government  of 
the  Commonwealth.  With  Vane  and  the  republicans 
he  stood  manfully  to  the  last,  and  manfully  fell  with 
the  Commonwealth  in  the  hour  when  Cromwell  tram- 
pled under  his  feet  the  liberties  of  his  country.  Brad- 
shaw  was  president  of  the  council  on  the  day  when 
the  lord-general  dissolved  the  Parliament.  None  but 
a  man  of  his  iron  nerve  and  indomitable  resolution, 
could  have  sustained  himself  as  he  did  on  that  occa- 
sion. Cromwell  having  returned  from  AYhitehall, 
appeared  before  the  council,  backed  by  his  guards, 
and  addressed  them  as  follows  : 

*'  Gentlemen,  if  you  are  met  here  as  private  persons, 
you  shall  not  be  disturbed  ;  but  if  as  a  council  of  state, 
this  is  no  place  for  you  ;  and  since  you  cannot  but 
know  what  was  done  in  the  morning,  so  take  notice 
that  the  Parliament  is  dissolved."  The  eye  of  Brad- 
shaw,  which  had  not  quailed  before  the  gaze  of  Charles 
Stuart,  calmly  encountered  the  troubled  glance  of  the 
dictator ;  the  tongue  which  had  not  faltered  to  pro- 
nounce sentence  upon  his  sovereign  as  a  tyrant,  traitor, 
and  public  enemy,  answered  firmly :  "  Sir,  we  have 
heard  what  you  did  at  the  House  in  the  morning,  and 
before  many  hours  all  England  will  hear  it;  but,  sir, 
you  are  mistaken  to  say  that  the  Parliament  is  dis-* 
solved,  for  no  power  under  heaven  can  dissolve  them 
but  themselves  ;  therefore  take  you  notice  of  that." 
It  was  the  last  protest  of  the  Commonwealth  against 
a  lawless  military  usurpation.  Bradshaw  and  his  fel- 
lows arose,  and  in  silence  withdrew. 


cnAPTER  m.  99 

In  the  first  Parliament  summoned  by  Cromwell 
after  he  had  assumed  the  office  of  Protector,  Bradj?haw 
was  returned  as  a  member.  A  formidable  opposition 
was  at  once  manifested,  for  the  republicans  had 
elected  a  large  number  of  delegates,  among  whom  were 
Scot  and  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig.  On  the  first  day  of  the 
session,  the  partizans  of  the  Protector  nominated  Len- 
tljal  for  speaker ;  the  opposition  presented  Bradshaw, 
but  finding  themselves  in  a  minority,  did  not  press  his 
election.  On  the  very  next  day,  Bradshaw  arose  and 
boldly  moved  to  debate  the  question  whether  the 
House  should  approve  the  system  of  government  de- 
vised by  the  Protector,  and  proclaimed  by  his  military 
cabal.  A  fierce  discussion  ensued,  which  lasted  several 
days.  Cromwell,  in  alarm,  stationed  a  guard  of  sol* 
diers  around  the  doors  of  the  House,  and  summoned 
the  members  to  meet  him  in  the  Painted  Chamber. 
Here,  after  a  long  and  angry  discourse,  ho  inform- 
ed them  that  he  should  require  each  member  to  sign 
an  engagement  to  be  ^^  faithful  to  the  Lord  Protector 
and  the  Commonwealth^  and  not  to  consent  to  a?i 
alteration  of  the  governments  as  itivas  settled  in  one 
PERSON  and  a  Parliament.^"*  On  their  return  to  the 
House,  the  members  found  the  guard  still  stationed 
round  the  doors,  and  a  parchment  containing  the 
pledge  lying  for  the  signatures  of  such  only  as  were  to 
be  admitted  to  their  seats.  Bradshaw,  with  Scot, 
Hazelrig,  and  about  an  hundred  others,  indignantly 
turned  his  back  upon  the  scene,  and  retired  from  a 


100  ALGEENON"  SIDNEY. 

Parliament   which   was   again  ruled   by    Cromwell's 
soldiers. 

This  Parliament  being  brought  to  an  untimely  ter- 
mination, and  a  new  one  afterwards  summoned,  the 
republicans  again  appeared  in  the  field  ;  but  Cromwell 
now  resolved  on  energetic  measures  to  prevent  the 
ablest  and  most  influential  from  obtaining  seats. 
Bradshaw,  on  some  pretence,  was  arrested,  and  de- 
prived of  his  oflice  of  chief  justice  of  Chester,  which 
he  had  so  ably  filled.  Yane,  Ludlow,  and  Marten 
were  imprisoned.  Yet  among  those  elected  were  Scot, 
Hazelrig,  and  other  decided  republicans.  These,  the 
Protector  resolved  to  exclude,  and  accordingly,  upon 
the  assembling  of  Parliament,  they  found  the  doors 
again  closed  upon  them  by  the  military.  Thus  were 
the  people  of  England,  through  their  representatives, 
denied  a  voice  in  the  councils  of  the  nation  ;  and  thus 
Bradshaw  and  his  friends  were  finally  excluded  from 
all  participation  in  the  government. 

On  the  assembling  of  the  Parliament  summoned  by 
the  Protector  Richard,  in  January,  1659,  Bradshaw 
once  more  took  his  seat  as  a  member.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  say  that  he  zealously  co-operated  with  Yane, 
Scot,  and  his  other  republican  associates,  whose  formi- . 
dable  opposition  soon  brought  the  new  Protector's  gov- 
ernment to  a  close.  The  Long  Parliament  was  re- 
vived ;  the  old  council  of  state  re-instated ;  and  Brad- 
shaw again  took  his  seat  in  it  as  president.  But  his 
career  was  about  to  close.  Death  soon  removed  him 
from  the  scene  of  his  labors.     He  died   during   this 


CHAPTER  in.  101 

year,  and  the  honors  of  a  burial  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
accompanied  with  the  most  imposing  obsequies,  testi- 
fied at  once  the  general  grief  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
nation,  and  its  respect  fur  his  memory.  He  died  tran- 
quilly in  his  bed,  asserting  with  almost  his  latest 
breath,  that  if  the  king  were  to  be  again  tried  and 
condemned,  his  would  be  the  first  voice  to  assent  to 
the  justice  of  the  act.  He  was  denied  the  glorious 
martyrdom  which  awaited  some  of  his  associates ; 
the  closing  eyes  of  the  stern  republican  were  not 
doomed  to  rest  upon  the  disgusting  orgies  which 
ushered  in  the  Restoration.  But  the  malice  of  his 
enemies  pursued  him  beyond  the  grave.  That  sacred 
precinct  itself  was  no  barrier  to  the  vindictive  wrath 
of  the  vengeful  royalists.  His  tomb  was  ruthlessly 
violated,  and  his  bones,  with  those  of  the  dead  Crom- 
well and  Ireton,  were  hung  on  gibbets  and  in  chains 
at  Tyburn.  His  head  was  dissevered  and  placed  on 
the  top  of  Westminster  Hall.  "  What  counsel  would 
dare  to  speak  for  him,"  exclaimed  the  solicitor-general 
on  the  trial  of  Yane,  *'  in  such  a  manifest  case  of 
treason,  unless  he  should  call  down  the  heads  of  his 
fellow  traitors  Bradshaw  and  Coke*  from  the  top  of 
Westminster  Hall."  Such  was  the  mi.serable  vengeance 
which  royalty,  in  the  hour  of  its  triumph,  did  not  blnsh 
to  inttict  on  the  memory  of  the  dead,  as  well  as  on  the 
living  champions  of  popular  liberty. 

*  Coke  acted  as  solicitor-general  on  the  trial  of  the  king,  and  was  exe- 
cuted after  the  Restoration.  His  head,  with  Bradshaw's,  was  placed  on 
the  top  of  Westminister  Hall. 


102  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

John  Milton  was  the  kinsman  and  friend  of  Brad- 
shaw  ;  a  humbler  actor  in  the  great  battle  for  popular 
freedom,  but  a  no  less  ardent  and  devoted  champion 
of  its  sacred  cause.  The  religious  character  of  Milton, 
grave  and  serious  without  austerity,  humble  and  de- 
vout, with  no  touch  of  cant,  intolerance,  or  fanaticism, 
was  the  counterpart  of  Bradshaw's.  His  temper  was 
more  gentle  and  serene,  his  will  less  imperious,  his 
manners  more  bland  and  insinuating,  and  his  private 
life  equally  pure  and  irreproachable.  His  father,  a 
London  scrivener,  educated  him  for  the  Church,  but 
the  puritanic  notions  of  young  Milton  could  not  suffer 
him  to  "  accommodate  his  conscience"  to  the  slavish 
hierarchy  of  Laud.  His  motives  for  refusing  to  enter 
the  Church  are  explained,  in  his  "  Reasons  for  Church 
Government,"  and  furnish  the  key  to  his  after  unre- 
lenting and  bitter  warfare  with  Episcopacy.  He  was 
destined  of  a  child,  he  says,  by  his  parents  and  friends 
to  the  Church,  "till  coming  to  some  maturity  of  years 
and  perceiving  what  tyranny  had  invaded  the  Church, 
that  he  who  would  take  orders  must  subscribe  slave 
and  take  an  oath  withal,  which,  unless  he  took  with  a 
conscience  that  would  retch,  he  must  either  straight 
perjure  or  split  his  faith  ;  1  thought  it  better  to  prefer  a 
blameless  silence  before  the  sacred  office  of  speaking, 
bought  and  begun  with  servitude  and  forswearing." 
Milton  left  college  to  pursue  his  favorite  studies  of  the 
Greek  and  Roman  classics,  and  occasionally  to  employ 
his  pen  in  those  beautiful  pieces  of  miscellaneous 
poetry,  which  of  themselves,  are  enough  to  render  his 


CHAPTER  m.  103 

name  immortal.  His  Comus,  and  his  L'Allegro  and 
Pcnseroso  were  written  before  he  was  twenty-seven 
years  of  age.  When  the  civil  troubles  in  England 
commenced,  Milton,  whose  speculative  opinions  from 
the  first  strongly  inclined  to  republicanism,  was  travel- 
ling on  the  Continent.  Abandoning  his  intention  of 
visiting  Sicily  and  Greece,  he  returned  home  to  share 
the  labors  and  the  fortunes  of  his  friends  who  were 
battling  for  freedom.  **  I  esteemed  it  dishonorable," 
he  v^Tites,  "  for  me  to  be  lingering  abroad,  even  for  the 
improvement  of  my  mind,  while  my  fellow  citizens 
were  contending  for  their  liberty  at  home." 

Milton,  in  London,  entered  with  zeal  and  ardor  into 
the  work  of  defending,  with  his  pen,  the  doctrines  of 
intellectual  and  moral  freedom,  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  which  were  so  thoroughly  interwoven  into  his 
mental  constitution,  as  to  become  the  controlling  faith 
of  his  life.  His  theatre  of  action  and  usefulness  was 
neither  in  the  camp  nor  the  senate,  but  upon  the  broad 
field  of  political  and  theological  controversy  which 
the  press  then  laid  open  to  the  intellect  of  the  age. 
#In  1643,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  Milton  married 
Mary  Powel,  the  daughter  of  a  jovial  country  gentle- 
man and  zealous  royalist.  The  serious  manners  and 
austere  household  of  the  Puritan,  ill  suited  the  gay 
and  lively  temper  of  the  lady,  and  after  a  month  of 
little  happiness,  as  it  may  be  imagined,  to  either 
party,  she  left  his  roof  and  returned  again  to  her 
father.  This  matrimonial  disagreement,  was  tho 
practical  argument,  doubtless,  which  led  his  mind  to 


104:  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

adopt  those  firm  and  unalterable  opinions  respecting 
the  lawfulness  of  divorce  on  the  ground  of  disagree- 
ment and  incompatibility  of  temper,  which  he  never 
surrendered,  and  which  prompted  him  to  compose  and 
publish  his  "  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  Divorce,"  and 
other  writings,  w^herein  he  ably  sustained  his  peculiar 
views.  His  wife,  however,  again  returned  to  him  ; 
expressed  penitence  for  her  desertion,  and  was  received 
with  kindness  and  affection.  She  lived  with  him  to 
the  day  of  her  death,  and  left  him  three  daughters. 
Milton  was  afterwards  twice  married. 

It  is  no  part  of  our  design  in  this  brief  sketch  to 
notice  Milton's  poetic  compositions,  or  any  of  his  volu- 
minous and  most  neglected  prose  writings,  except 
simply  to  allude  to  the  latter  for  the  purpose  of  illus- 
trating his  political  opinions,  and  the  nature  of  the 
services  rendered  by  him  to  the  popular  cause.  We 
cannot  pass  by  the  Areopagitica,  published  in  1644, 
when  the  Presbyterian  majority,  then  in  power,  refused 
to  abolish  the  law^s  restraining  the  liberty  of  the  press. 
This  noble  defence  of  the  liberty  of  unlicensed  print- 
ing, has  justly  been  pronounced  '^  a  precious  manual 
of  freedom,  an  arsenal  of  immortal  weapons  for  the 
defence  of  man's  highest  prerogative,  intellectual 
liberty."^  The  same  eloquent  pen  has  traced  in  truth- 
ful lines  the  character  of  the  poet,  as  it  apj^eared  in 
vivid  colors  to  the  mind,  whose   benignity  and  great- 

*  Dr  Charming.  Remarks  on  the  Character  and  Writings  of  Milton, 
vol.  1,  p.  28, 


CHAPTEE  in.  105 

ness  our  countrymen  have  not  yet  learned  sufficiently 
to  venerate. 

*'  We  see  Milton's  greatness  of  mind  in  his  fervent 
and  constant  attachment  to  liberty.  Freedom,  in  all 
its  forms  and  branches,  was  dear  to  him  ;  but  espe- 
cially freedom  of  thought  and  speech,  of  conscience 
and  worship,  freedom  to  speak,  profess,  and  propagate 
truth.  The  liberty  of  ordinary  politicians,  which  pro- 
tects men's  outward  rights,  and  removes  restraints 
from  the  pursuit  of  property  and  outward  good,  fell 
very  short  of  that  for  which  Milton  lived  and  was 
ready  to  die.  The  tyranny  which  he  hated  most,  was 
that  which  broke  the  intellectual  and  moral  power  of 
the  community.  The  worst  feature  of  the  institu- 
tions which  he  assailed  was,  that  they  fettered  the 
mind."  In  these  elevated  views  of  freedom,  it  is  im- 
possible not  to  admire  the  beautiful  consistency  and 
harmony  existing  between  the  views  of  Milton  and 
those  of  his  noble  coadjutors  in  the  cause  in  which  he 
engaged,  Sidney,  Yane,  and  Marten. 

The  trial  and  execution  of  the  king  found  no  more 
decided  advocate  than  Milton,  not  even  Bradshaw 
himself.  He  justified  it  in  a  tract  entitled  the  •'  Tenure 
of  Kings  and  Magistrates,"  on  the  very  title  page  of 
which  he  asserts  the  right  to  put  "  a  tyrant  or  wicked 
king"  to  death,  after  due  conviction  of  guilt,  thus 
striking  at  the  root  of  the  king's  objection  to  the  com- 
petency and  jurisdiction  of  the  tribunal  which  con- 
demned him. 

Milton  was  a  scholar  of  the  most  extensive  and 


106  ALGERNOIT  SIDNEY. 

varied  learning.  His  attainments  were  now  put  in 
requisition  by  the  new  government,  which  appointed 
him  secretary  to  the  council  for  foreign  tongues,  an 
office  which  the  zeal  and  patriotism  of  the  poet  did 
not  suffer  him  to  decline.  Whitelocke  in  his  Memoirs 
casually  mentions  the  humble  labors  of  Milton  in  this 
station,  with  a  self-complacency  which  in  our  day 
may  well  provoke  a  smile.  The  foreign  secretary  to 
the  council,  he  says,  "  one  Milton^  a  blind  man, 
was  engaged  in  translating  a  treaty  with  Sweden." 
Strange  to  notice  the  singular  changes  wrought  by 
time  !  The  Lord  Commissioner  Bulstrode  Whitelocke, 
ambassador  to  Sweden,  eminent  in  his  day  alike  as  a 
jurist,  a  civilian,  and  a  diplomatist,  could  look  down 
with  contempt  at  the  obscure  foreign  secretary,  and 
would  have  smiled  at  the  presumption  that  imagined 
a  name  so  humble  was  destined  to  be  transmitted  to 
posterity  with  a  lustre  equal  to  his  own.  And  yet^ 
among  the  many  millions  of  civilized  men  in  both 
hemispheres  the  very  name  of  Whitelocke,  is  almost  for- 
gotten, while  that  of  the  great  poet  is  repeated,  from 
the  palace  to  the  meanest  hovel,  with  reverence  and 
admiration !  The  immortal  epic  of  **  Milton,  the 
blind  man,"  like  the  wonderful  poem  of  that  other 

blind  man, 

"  Of  Scio's  rocky  isle"— 

the  honor  of  whose  birthplace  was  disputed  by  seven 
cities — was  a  work  for  all  ages  and  all  time,  and  has 
rendered  its  author's  name  immortal. 

During  his  secretaryship  Milton  rendered  valuable 


CHAPTER  in.  107 

services  to  the  Commonwealth  by  his  vigorous  and 
energetic  pen.  The  Ikon  BasiTike,  published  by  the 
royalists  immediately  after  the  king's  death,  and  by 
some  attributed  to  the  pen  of  the  king  himself,  pro- 
duced a  profound  impression  among  the  people.  An 
answer  from  Milton's  pen,  entitled  Iconoclastes,  im- 
mediately appeared,  in  which  the  popular  cause  is 
sustained  with  convincing  argument  and  triumphant 
success.  This  is  considered  one  of  the  ablest  of  his 
political  essays.  Sf>on  after  appeared  another  royalist 
publication,  Drfensio  Rrg-is^  by  Salmasius;  filled  with 
the  rnost  bitter  invective,  and. even  scurrilous  person- 
alties, against  the  leaders  of  the  popular  party,  and 
particularly  against  Milton  himself.  The  secretary 
undertook  to  reply,  and  commenced  his  famous  De- 
fensio  pro  PopuJo  A7ig'/icanOj  a  work  of  unanswer- 
able power,  kindled  into  a  noble  and  lofty  eloquence 
by  the  intense  earnestness  and  glowing  zeal  of  the 
writer,  and  by  the  jrreatness  of  the  theme  he  discusses. 
If  his  ardor  carried  him  beyond  the  bounds  of  pro- 
priety, if  he  indulged  in  too  violent  invective,  and  suf- 
fered himself  to  be  betrayed  into  discreditable  personal 
acrimony,  it  may  be  attributed  to  the  nature  of  the 
controversy,  to  the  grossly  offensive  challenge  he  had 
received,  and  to  the  excited  temper  and  spirit  which 
grew  out  of  the  times,  and  characterized  all  such  dis- 
quisitions. Apart  from  these  blemishes,  the  effort  was 
a  tribute  fit  for  genius  to  lay  upon  the  altar  of  liberty. 
"When  first  appointed  to  his  place,  he  had  not  yet  be- 
come entirely  blind — though  intense  study  and  literary 


108  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

labor  had  greatly  impaired  his  sight.  His  physicians 
distincly  warned  him  that  the  consequence  of  this 
exertion  would  be  the  utter  loss  of  sight.  Milton  per- 
sisted. His  was  not  the  same  courage  which  nerves 
the  soldier  to  meet  death  at  the  cannon's  mouth ;  but 
it  was  a  courage  of  a  higher  and  nobler  description,  a 
serene,  a  self-sacrificing,  an  almost  sublime  heroism, 
which  can  only  exist  with  true  magnanimity  of  soul 
From  his  *'  Defence  of  the  People  of  England,"  Milton 
arose  blind.  The  faith  which  sustained  him  through 
his  labors,  and  the  calm  satisfaction  with  which, 
through  his  sore  affliction,  he  was  enabled  to  look  back 
upon  them,  are  beautifully  expressed  in  that  touching 
sonnet  to  his  friend  Cyriao  Skinner — the  spontaneous 
outburst  of  a  heart  whose  warmest  aspirations  were  for 
liberty. 

"  Cyriac,  this  three  years'  day,  these  eyes,  though  clear, 

To  outward  view,  of  blemish  or  of  spot, 

Bereft  of  light,  their  seeing  have  forgot ; 

Nor  to  their  idle  orbs  doth  sight  appear 
Of  sun,  or  moon,  or  star,   throughout  the  year, 

Or  man  or  woman.     Yet  I  argue  not 

Against  Heaven's  hand  or  will,  nor  bate  a  jot 

Of  heart  or  hope,  but  still  bear  up  and  steer 
Right  onward.     What  supports  me,  doth  thou  ask  ? 

The  conscience,  friend,  to  have  lost  them  overplied 

In  liberty's  defence ;  my  noble  task, 
Of  which  all  Europe  rings  from  side  to  side. 

This  thought  might  lead  me  through  the  world's  vain  mask, 

Content,  though  blind,  had  I  no  better  guide." 

Milton  acquired  a  high  reputation  both  at  home  and 
abroad  by  this  production.     The  Parliament,  as  a  re- 


CHAPTER  m.  109 

compense  for  his  services,  voted  him  a  thousand 
pounds  ;  it  also  granted  him  an  allowance  to  maintain 
a  table  for  the  purpose  of  entertaining  foreign  ambas- 
sadors, and  eminent  literary  strangers,  on  their  arrival 
in  England,  which  allowance  was  afterwards  continued 
under  Cromwell's  government.  Notwithstanding  his 
loss  of  sight,  his  pen  was  employed  with  unwearied 
assiduity  in  the  service  of  the  Commonwealth.  A 
year  or  two  afterwards  he  published  a  second  defence 
of  the  English  people  against  an  attack  similar  to  that 
of  Salmasius.  From  this  paper  the  extract  already 
quoted  respecting  Bradshaw  is  taken. 

On  Cromwell's  rise  to  the  supreme  power,  Milton 
continued  in  his  office.  His  course,  in  this  respect, 
has  been  censured,  perhaps  justly ;  yet  it  should  be 
remembered  that  while  the  lofty  independence  of  Yane, 
and  the  inflexible  spirit  of  Sidney,  scorned  to  accept 
favor  or  place  under  him  whom  they  justly  regarded 
as  an  usurper,  the  less  pretending  and  humble  sphere 
which  Milton  had  filled  might  well  appear  to  him  the 
path  of  his  present  duty.  Yet,  in  his  place  under  the 
Protector,  he  sacrificed  none  of  his  independence  or 
freedom  of  thought  and  action.  The  sonnet  addressed 
by  him  to  Cromwell,  is  too  well  known  to  be  here  re- 
peated. In  his  second  defence  he  addresses  him  in 
the  language  of  friendly  and  frank  admonition.  "  Re- 
collect that  thou  thyself  can'st  not  be  free  unless  we 
are  so ;  for  it  is  fitly  so  provided  in  the  nature  of 
things,  that  he  who  conquers  another's  liberty  in  the 


110  ALGEEXO]Sr  SIDNEY. 

very  act  loses  his  own  ;  he  becomes,  and  justlv;  the 
foremost  slave." 

The  suffering  of  the  Yaudois  in  the  valleys  of  Pied- 
mont deeply  enlisted  the  sympathy  of  Milton,  as  in- 
deed of  the  whole  English  people,  and  called  from  him 
the  noble  lines  commencing  : 

'"Avenge,  O  Lord  !  thy  slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones 
Lie  scattered  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold.*' 

Milton  himself  conducted  the  negotiations  which 
Cromwell  carried  on  with  the  French  ambassador ; 
and  so  resolute  was  the  Protector  that  he  refused  to 
sign  the  French  treaty  with  Mazarin,  until  he  had  re- 
ceived satisfactory  assurance  that  the  interference  of 
France  had  procured  a  general  amnesty  to  the  suffer- 
ing Vaudois,  and  had  restored  these  persecuted  Chris- 
tians to  their  ancient  privileges. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Milton  ever  fell  under  the 
displeasure  of  Cromwell.  His  name  is  found  among 
the  five  secretaries  who  formed  part  of  the  magnificent 
procession  which  followed  the  dead  body  of  the  Protec- 
tor to  Westminster  Abbey.  Ever  true  to  his  republi- 
can sentiments,  he  vigorously  opposed  the  Restoration. 
On  the  occurrence  of  that  event,  it  was  to  be  expected 
that  the  author  of  "  Iconoclastes"  and  the  "  Defences 
of  the  People,"  would  be  excluded  from  the  general 
amnesty  ;  but,  strangely  enough,  his  name  was  not 
found  in  the  act.  He  was,  however,  arrested  in  the 
place  where  he  had  taken  refuge,  but  was  released,  it 
is   said,  by  the   friendly  interference  of  Sir  William 


CHAPTEE  m.  Ill 

Davenant,  to  whom  he  had  been  of  service  on  an  occa- 
sion of  similar  danger.  Reduced  to  poverty,  Milton 
now  retired  to  a  humble  and  obscure  residence  in 
London,  married  his  third  wife,  and,  separated  entirely 
from  the  excitement  and  asperities  of  political  contro- 
versies, applied  himself  to  literary  pursuits  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  which  closed  in  1674,  in  the 
sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  During  the  first  years  of 
his  retirement,  his  mind  was  engrossed  with  the  com- 
position of  that  sublime  poem  which  has  immortalized 
his. name.  Milton  doubtless  wrote  it  with  the  con- 
sciousness that  posterity  alone  was  to  appreciate  its 
merits.  A  small  and  unpretending  volume,  entitled 
"  Paradise  Lost,'-  on  which  the  publisher  had  ventured 
to  advance  five  pounds,  first  appeared  in  1667.  The 
wits  of  Buckingham  Palace  and  Whitehall  sneered  at 
the  book,  if  indeed  they  met  with  it  at  all,  and  the 
men  of  letters  as  well  as  the  courtiers  of  that  and  the 
succeeding  reign,  turned  with  affected  disgust  from 
the  writings  of  an  author  who  had  penned  the  answer 
to  Salmasius.  The  noblest  genius  can  never  soar 
above  the  combined  influence  of  political  animosity 
and  a  corrupt  taste  ;  and  it  is  not  therefore  strange  that 
for  many  years  the  Paradise  Lost  should  have  found 
no  place  in  English  literature.  The  work  of  the  de- 
spised republican,  whose  memory  was  assailed  with 
the  same  rancorous  ferocity  which  assailed  the  memory 
of  his  dead  kinsman,  whose  head  graced  the  top  of 
Westminster  Hall — of  the  man  whose  political  writ- 
ings, with  Buchanan's  and  Baxter's,  the  University  of 


112.  ALGEEN-ON   SIDNEY. 

Oxford  ordered  to  be  publicly  burned,  was  at  that  day 
■undeservinof  even  of  criticism.  No  wonder  is  it  that 
th&  Paradise  Lost  was  so  long  treated  with  neglect, 
in  an  age  when  wits  and  men  of  letters  would  turn 
aside  from  the  brilliant  satire  of  Dryden,  to  gloat  over 
the  ribald  jests  of  Rochester  and  the  licentious 
comedy  of  Wycherly.  The  prejudice  extended  even 
beyond  that  better  era  which  marked  the  downfall  of 
the  house  of  Stuart ;  and  it  was  not  till  a  succeeding 
reign,  that  the  cultivated  mind  and  refined  taste  of  an 
Addison  drew  Milton  from  his  obscurity,  and  placed 
him  on  the  eminence  he  now  occupies,  by  the  side  of 
Homer,  of  Virgil,  and  of  Dante — foremost  among  the 
greatest  poetic  geniuses  of  antiquity  or  of  modern 
times. 

Henry  Marten,  or  as  he  is  more  familiarly  called, 
Harry  Marten,*  wg^s  one  of  the  most  active  and  decided 
of  the  republican  statesmen  of  that  day.  Not  only 
was  he  a  statesman  and  a  man  of  genius,  but  a  scholar 
and  a  wit.  Although  his  character  is  not  wholly 
without  blemish,  yet  there  is  much  in  it  to  respect  and 
admire.  His  errors  and  failings,  for  the  most  part, 
were  those  into  which  he  was  betrayed  by  an  impul- 
sive temper  and  a  convivial  disposition.  Marten  was, 
in  taste  and  by  nature,  a  cavalier  ;    and  doubtless  he 

*  So  Marten  styled  himself.  On  his  trial  he  denied  that  his  name 
was  in  the  act  excepting  him  from  pardon.  The  clerk,  on  producing  the 
act,  read  the  name  "  Henry  Marten,"  to  which  he  replied—-'  Henry  ]\Iar- 
ten  ?  my  name  is  not  so ;  it  is  Harry  Marten."  The  Court  overruled  his 
objection.  .  * 


CHAPTER    in.  113 

would  have  been  so  by  association,  had  not  his  republi- 
can theories  and  his  enthusiastic  notions  of  liberty  led 
him  from  the  first  day  of  his  public  life  to  go  hand  in 
hand   with   those  who  went   farthest  in  the^  popular 
cause.     He  had  no  feeling  in  common  with  the  reli- 
gious austerity  of  the  Puritans,  and  yet  with  the  Pu- 
ritans he  labored  zealously  in  the  common  cause.    His 
vivacity,  his  joyous,  mercurial  disposition,  his  fondness 
fur  conviviality,  and   the  elegant  luxuries  of  a  society 
that  Puritanism   did  not  tolerate,  made  him  the  very 
antipode  of  such  men  as  Cromwell,  Vane,  and   Brad- 
shaw ;  and  yet  these  men  were  not  only  his  intimate 
political  associates,  but  his  friends  ;   whose  strict  man- 
ners   and    stern    morality  Marten  could    respect    and 
esteem,  while  they  in    turn  could   pass  by  in  silence, 
or   complacently  listen   to,  the  witty  and  sometimes 
reckless  sallies  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  one  whose 
fidelity  to  the  popular  cause  had  been  so  thoroughly 
tried,  and  whose  genius  and  eloquence  had  rendered 
such  signal  services  to  the  Commonwealth.     Marten, 
says  Aubrey,  was  "  as  far   from  a   Puritan   as  light 
from  darkness."     Bishop  Burnet   says  of  him  that  he 
never  entered  into  matters  of  religion ;  that  he  "was 
all  his  life  a  most  violent  enemy  of  monarchy,  but  all 
that  he  moved  for  was  upon  Grreek  and  Roman  princi- 
ples."    Upon  this  view  of  his   character,  sustained  as 
it  is  by  Mr.  Hume,  who  classes  him  with  Chailoner, 
Harrington  and  those  whom  he  calls  the  Deists  of  tho 
Revolution,   or  as  Cromwell  styled  them,  tho  "  hea- 
then," Marten  and  his  associates  have    been  likened 


114  ALGERXON   SIDXEY. 

to  the  Girondins  in  the  French  Convention,  who 
jeified  liberty,  and  whose  imaginations,  glowing  with 
the  inspiration  kindled  by  the  study  of  antiquity, 
saw  arising  upon  the  ruins  of  feudalism  their  own 
ideal  republic.  Marten's  gaiety  of  temper  and  bril- 
liancy of  conversation  are  noticed  by  one  of  his 
inveterate  enemies,  old  Anthony  AVood,  whose  pen 
very  rarely  indulged  in  anything  respecting  him  but 
abuse.  AYe  quote  a  passage,  the  latter  part  of  which, 
perhaps,  may  be  a  calumny  : 

^'  He  was  a  man  of  good  natural  parts,  a  boon  fami- 
liar, witty  and  quick  with  repartees;  was  exceedingly 
happy  in  apt  instances,  pertinent  and  very  biting,  so 
that  his  company  being  esteemed  incomparable  by 
many,  would  have  been  acceptable  to  the  greatest 
persons,  only  he  would  be  drunk  too  soon,  and  so  put 
an  end  to  all  the  mirth  for  the  present." 

One  or  two  specimens  of  Marten's  repartee  and  "apt 
instances"  may  be  given,  as  we  find  them  in  the  pages  of 
an  entertaining  modern  writer,^  collected  from  various 
sources.  In  drawing  the  remonstrances  of  the  army 
which  changed  the  monarchy  to  a  commonwealth,  Mar- 
tenused  the  expression  "  restored  to  its  ancient  govern- 
ment of  commonwealth."  A  member  arose  to  repri- 
mand him  for  asserting  the  antiquity  of  the  Common- 
wealth. Marten  whimsically  replied — "  There  was  a 
text  which  had  often  troubled  his  spirit,  concerning 
the  man  who  was  blind  from  his  mother's  womb,  but 

*  Forster.    Statesmen  of  the  Commonwealth.    Life  of  JNIarten. 


CHAPTER   in.  115 

at  Irnjilh  whose  sight,  was  restored  to  the.  sight  which 
he  should  have  had.^'' 

On  another  occasion  Cromwell,  in  the  heat  of  some 
debate,  called  his  old  friend  "Sir  Harry  Marten." 
The  wit  arose,  and  bowing  very  gravely,  replied — "  I 
thank  your  majesty.  I  always  thought  when  you  were 
kin^.  that  I  should  be  IzniglitedP 

A  Puritan  member,  ofFended  at  some  light  remark 
dropped  by  Marten,  suggested  that  it  would  be  well  to 
have  a  motion  to  expel  *' all  profane  and  unsanctified 
persons.''  To  this  Marten  replied,  in  a  serious  tone, 
that,  he  should  move  "  that  all  fo(»ls  might  be  put  out 
likewise,  and  then  the  House  might  probably  be  found 
thin  enough." 

His  pleasantry  did  not  desert  him  in  the  darkest 
and  most  trying  hour  of  his  life.  In  the  petition  for 
a  reprieve,  which  he  presented  on  being  condemned  to 
death  with  the  regicides,  he  observes  that  he  had  sur- 
rendered himself  upon  the  king's  *' declaration  of  Breda," 
and  that  since  "  he  had  never  obeyed  any  royal  pro- 
clam.ation  before  this,  he  hoped  that  he  should  not  bo 
hanged    for   taking   the    king's  word  now." 

The  father  of  Marten,  the  most  eminent  civilian  of 
his  day,  had  left  him  a  large  fortune,  which,  says 
Anthony  Wood,  ''his  ungodly  son,  Harry,  squandered 
away."  A  large  share  of  it,  however,  it  should  have 
been  added,  was  squandered  in  the  service  of  the  pub- 
lic, he  having  contributed  to  the  Parliament  on  one 
occasion  the  sum  of  ^3000.  Becoming  embarrassed 
in  his  circumstances,  he  presented  a  petition  praying 


116  ALGERNON  SYDNEY. 

the  settlement  of  his  arrears  as  colonel  in  the  army, 
but  it  was  not  very  speedily  acted  upon.  On  this 
occasion  Marten,  having  heard  that  some  recent  un- 
worthy appointments  had  been  made,  remarked— 
*'  That  he  had  seen  at  last  the  Scripture  fulfilled  : 
*  Thou  hast  exalted  the  humble  and  the  meek  :  thou 
hast  filled  the  empty  with  good  things,  but  the  rich 
thou  hast  sent  empty  away.'  " 

Marten  was  elected  to  the  Long  Parliament  from  the 
county  of  Berks,  having  been  also  a  member  of  the 
Parliament  which  met  in  April  of  that  year.  His  re- 
putation for  learning  and  ability  was  already  estab- 
lished, and  he  soon,  by  his  forensic  talent  placed  him- 
self in  the  foremost  rank  as  a  parliamentary  debater. 
"His  speeches,"  says  Aubrey,  '"^  were  not  long,  but 
wondrous  poignant,  pertinent,  and  witty."  He  had 
contracted  friendships  with  the  most  eminent  men  of 
the  day,  Pym,  Hampden,  Fiennes,  and  Hyde,  after- 
wards Lord  Clarendon.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that 
his  theoretic  opinions,  at  this  early  day,  were  decidedly 
republican,  though  he  found  no  proper  occasion  to 
avow  them  publicly.  In  a  private  interview,  however, 
with  Hyde,  he  did  not  hesitate,  with  that  frankness 
and  freedom  of  speech  so  natural  to  him,  to  express 
his  disapprobation  of  the  monarchical  principle.  *' I 
do  not  think,"  he  says,  "  one  man  wise  enough  to  gov- 
ern us  all."  The  future  lord-chancellor  was  shocked 
at  the  sentiments  which  had  so  early  entered  "  into 
the  hearts  of  some  desperate  persons,"  and  left  him 
without  reply.     So  tesolute  was  Marten's  opposition  to 


CHAPTER  ni.  '  117 

all  the  arbitrary  measures  of  Charles,  that  on  the 
breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  he  was,  with  Pym, 
Hampden,  and  Hollis,  specially  excepted  from  pardon 
in  the  king's  proclamation.  But  he  resolutely  and 
steadily  continued  his  opposition  to  the  royalists  and 
the  royal  cause,  and  was  the  very  first  man  in 
England  publicly  to  avow  his  preference  for  a  republi- 
can form  of  government,  and  to  declare  upon  the 
floor  of  the  House,  that  "it  were  better  one  family 
should  be  destroyed  than  many."  On  being  question- 
ed to  explain  whom  he  meant.  Marten  boldly  answered, 
"  The  king  and  his  children  !"  For  this  he  was  ex- 
pelled the  House  and  committed  to  the  Tower, 
although  his  friend  Pym,  while  he  disapproved  the 
lan£2:uaf!:e,  endeavored  in  vain  to  extenuate  it.  Mar- 
ten  was  a  prisoner  only  two  weeks,  but  he  did  not  re- 
sume his  seat  in  the  House  until  a  year  and  a  half 
afterwards.  From  that  time  to  the  period  of  Crom- 
well's usurpation  of  the  government,  his  name  is 
intimately  blended  with  every  great  public  measure 
of  the  day,  and  is  found  inseparably  associated  with 
the  names  of  Yane,  Sidney,  Scot,  Bradshaw,  and  St. 
John.  The  political  views  of  Marten  were  those  enter- 
tained in  common  by  these  illustrious  men,  and  the  great 
measures  of  public  policy  they  advocated  found  in 
him  a  ready  and  most  efficient  supporter.  Perhaps  in 
his  speculative  views  of  social  progress  and  political 
equality,  in  his  theory  of  a  pure  republican  govern- 
ment and  institutions,  he  may  have  gone  beyond  the 
more  sober  views  of  some  of  his  associates,  and  have 


118  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

sympathised  too  deeply  with  the  speculations  of  Har- 
rington, the  author  of  the  "  Oceana,"  or  of  Neville, ^^^ 
the  author  of  the  "  Plato  Redivivus  ;"  but  in  all  his  ac- 
tions Marten  was  the  wise  and  practical  statesman, 
and  the  firm,  steady,  and  consistent  friend  of  free  in- 
stitutions. In  his  views  of  a  full  and  ample  religious 
toleration,  he  went  beyond  some  even  of  the  most  libe- 
ral of  the  Independents.  There  was  no  fetter  to  the 
intellect  and  conscience,  no  restriction  upon  creed  or 
race,  that  he  was  not  willing  to  remove  ;  and  to  his  last- 
ing honor  be  it  said,  that  he  was  the  first  to  propose  a 
repeal  of  the  statute  against  the  Jews,  who  for  three 
hundred  and  fifty  years  in  England  had  been  a  pro- 
scribed and  persecuted  race.  A  higher  and  more 
honorable  mention  still  is  made  of  him  as  a  legislator, 
that  when  mercy  was  to  be  shown,  or  an  act  of  liberal 
or  kind-hearted  justice  done,  Henry  Marten  was  sore 
to  be  found  not  wanting. 

If  he  trusted  too  far  to  the  good  faith  and  sincerity 
of  Cromwell,  he  was  the  first  to  acknowledge  his 
error.  If  he  made  a  mistake  in  countenancing  the 
military  outrage  of  Col.  Pride  against  the  Presbyte- 
rian majority  in  the  Parliament,  he  amply  atoned  for 
it  by  his  noble  conduct  on  the  day  of  the  dissolution 
by  Cromwell,  when  with  Vane  and  Sidney,  he  indig- 
nantly turned  his  back  on  the  usurper,  and  abandoned 
him  forever.  Nor  did  Marten  ever  recognize  his  gov- 
ernment ;  and  though  subsequently  imprisoned,  he 
•* 
*  These  also  are  classed  by  Hume  with  Sidney  and  Marten  among  the 
Deists  of  the  Revolution. 


CHAPTER   III.  119 

firmly  refused  to  acknowledge  his  power  or  yield  to 
his  authority. 

On  the  trial  of  the  king,  Marten  was  a  member  of 
the  commission,  and,  with  the  exception  of  Cromwell, 
the  m»()st  active  and  influential  member  of  the  high 
court  of  justice.  During  the  whole  of  the  prior  pro- 
ceedings, no  one  contributed  so  much  toward  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  the  Commonwealth.  He  was  upon 
the  committee  to  prepare  charges  against  the  king; 
he  was  a  member  of  the  executive  government,  and 
concerted  all  the  measures,  with  Ireton  and  others,  for 
altering  the  regal  insignia  into  the  symbols  of  a  repub- 
lic. To  CromwelTs  question  what  answer  they  should 
give  the  king,  when  he  asked  them  by  what  authority 
he  was  to  be  tried.  Marten  replied — "In  the  name  of 
the  Commons  and  Parliament  assembled,  and  all  the  good 
people  of  England."  Marten  sat  through  the  whole  of 
the  trial,  and  was  one  of  the  fifty-nine  commissioners 
whosii!:ned  their  names  to  the  death-warrant.  On  this 
occasion  a  scene  is  recorded  between  Cromwell  and 
Marten,  which  certainly  exhibits  an  unbecoming  levity 
of  character  on  the  part  of  both,  at  such  a  time,  and  in 
the  execution  of  so  stern  a  duty.  Cromwell,  having 
signed  his  name,  laughingly  marked  Marten's  face  with 
the  pen,  which  Marten,  in  the  same  spirit,  returned. 
It  was  charged  against  Marten  at  his  trial,  as  an  evi- 
dence of  malice,  that  this  was  done  "  merrily  and  in 
great  sport."  "  That  does  not  imply  malice,"  the 
prisoner  quietly  replied. 

Marten   was   elected   a    member  of  the   executive 


120  ALGEE2^01T   SIDNEY. 

council  in  the  new  Commonwealth  :  and  certainly  no 
one  exhibited  greater  ability  in  setting  in  motion  the 
new  machinery  of  the  government.  He  introduced  a 
bill  for  the  sale  of  the  royal  property,  including  the 
king's  lands,  re  galia,  furniture,  jewelry,  and  paintings, 
and  assisted  in  organizing  the  courts  of  justice  under 
the  new  order  of  things.  At  the  re-assembling  of  the 
Long  Parliament  on  the  abdication  of  Richard  Crom- 
well, Marten  re-appeared  upon  the  scene,  and  made 
his  last  stand  for  a  commonwealth  against  the  designs 
of  the  traitor  General  Monk.  At  the  restoration,  he 
was  excepted,  as  to  life  and  property,  out  of  the  act  of 
indemnity  and  oblivion  ;  and  in  October,  1660,  was 
brought  to  trial,  at  the  Old  Bailey,  before  the  thirty- 
six  commissioners  appointed  to  try  the  regicides. 
Among  these  commissioners  sat  Marten's  old  friend 
Hyde,  now  lord-chancellor,  eager  to  shed  the  blood  of 
the  colleague  by  whose  side,  twenty  years  before,  he 
had  sat  in  the  Long  Parliament.  Sir  Anthony  Ashley 
Cooper,  formerly  an  active  Parliament  man,  afterwards 
one  of  the  god  ly  members  of  the  "  Barebone  Parliament," 
now  a  zealous  royalist,  sat  by  the  side  of  the  double 
traitor.  General  Monk,  Duke  of  Albemarle,  who  had 
fought  for  and  against  the  king.  It  is  humiliating  to 
find  also  on  that  judgment  seat,  Hollis,  who,  with  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar,  had  been  excepted  by  name  from 
the  general  pardon  proclaimed  by  Charles ;  and  even 
the  Earl  of  Manchester,  under  whose  victorious  ban- 
ner Cromwell  and  Sidney  had  fought  at  Marston  Moor. 
The  defence  of  Marten  on  his  trial  was  dignified,  but 


CHAPTER   III.  121 

mild  and  conciliatory.  He  regretted  the  blood  shed  in 
the  civil  war,  and  the  death  of  the  king,  but  justified 
his  conduct  on  the  ground  that  he  acted  on  what  he 
supposed  a  lawful  authority.  As  to  King  Charles  II., 
he  avowed  his  willingness  to  pay  him  obedience  so 
long  as  the  representative  body  supported  him.  The 
mildness  of  his  defence,  however,  availed  him  nothing 
on  his  trial ;  he  wiis  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  be 
executed.  The  sentence  would,  undoubtedly,  have 
been  carried  into  effect,  had  not  the  numerous  friends 
of  Marten,  who,  in  palmier  days,  shared  his  convi- 
viality and  enjoyed  the  charms  of  his  society,  made 
great  interest  for  him  in  the  House  of  Lords.  He 
had  not  hurled  defiance  at  his  judges  on  the  trial,  as 
did  some  of  the  regicides,  and  ^ince  his  conviction  he 
had  manifested  a  submission  that  the  court  mistook 
for  penitence.  His  sentence  was  accordingly  com- 
muted to  imprisonment  for  life.  He  lingered  twenty 
years,  and  died  in  prison.  Toward  the  close  of  his 
life,  the  old  man  was  asked  whether  if  the  deed  were 
to  be  done  again,  he  would  sign  the  warrant  for  the 
execution  of  Charles  I.  "With  a  firm  voice  he  an- 
swered, "  Yes."  The  poet  Southey,  before  he  became 
the  laureate  of  George  lY.,  wrote  an  inscription  for 
the  apartment  in  which  Marten  was  confined,  contain- 
ing the  following  noble  lines  : 

"  Dos't  thou  ask  his  crime  ? 
He  had  rebelled  against  a  king,  and  sat 
In  judgment  on  him — for  his  ardent  mind 
Shaped  goodliest  plans  of  happiness  on  earth, 


122  ALGEENON   SIDISTIT. 

And  peace  and  liberty.    Wild  4 reams ! 
But  such  as  Plato  loved ;  such  as  with  holy  zeal 
Our  Milton  worshipped.     Blest  hopes !     Awhile 
From  man  withheld  even  to  the  latter  days, 
When  Christ  shall  come  and  all  things  be  fulfilled." 

A  different  fate  was  that  of  Marten's  heroic  fiiend 
and  colleague,  Thomas  Scot.  It  is  impossible^to  con- 
ceive of  a  man  of  greater  nerve,  and  of  a  more  inflexi- 
ble courage,  physical  or  moral,  than  Scot.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Long  Parliament,  an  ardent  and  enthu- 
siastic republican,  the  friend  of  Sidney,  Yane,  Marten, 
and  Bradshaw.  He  sat  iu  the  high  court  of  justice  as 
one  of  the  commissioners  to  try  the  king.  In  the  new 
government,  Scot's  well-known  integrity  and  great  de- 
votion to  the  public  interest,  were  such  as  to  cause 
him  to  be  selected,  with  Edmund  Ludlow  and  three 
others,  to  choose  the  new  council  of  state.  "With 
Bradshaw  he  took  his  seat  as  a  member  of  Oliver 
Cromwell's  Parliament,  where,  with  the  same  energy 
that  had  marked  his  efforts  for  the  popular  cause  in  the 
Long  Parliament,  he  assailed  the  arbitrary  measures  of 
the  Protector.  Portions  of  Scot's  speeches  in  Oliver's 
Parliaments,  and  in  the  Parliament  of  the  Protector 
Richard,  yet  remain.  They  prove  that  he  was  a  man 
of  undoubted  ability,  gifted  with  a  nervous  and  lofty 
eloquence,  and  unquestionably  one  of  the  most  accom- 
plished debaters  of  the  day.  His  mind  was  impulsive 
and  ardent.  Sometimes  his  ardor  betrayed  him  into  a 
too  impassioned  declamation.  A  tone  of  fierce  defiance, 
of  fiery  sarcasm,  breathes  through  his  sentences  ;  but 


CHAPTER  m.  123 

withal  there  is  a  dignity,  and  often  a  startling  ma- 
jesty of  expression  in  his  language,  which  must  have 
arrested  the  attention  of  every  hearer.  "  Shall  I,"  he 
exclaimed  in  a  speech  against  Cromwell's  House  of 
Lords,  "  shall  I,  that  sat  in  a  Parliament  which  brought 
a  king  to  the  bar  and  the  block,  not  speak  my  mind 
freely  here  ?"  And  again — "  The  lords  would  not 
join  in  the  trial  of  the  king.  AVe  must  lay  things 
bare  and  naked.  We  were  either  to  lay  all  that  blood 
of  ten  years'  war  upon  ourselve?  or  upon  some  other 
object.  "We  called  the  king  of  England  to  our  bar  and 
arraigned  him.  He  was,  for  his  obstinacy  and  guilt, 
condemned  and  executed  ;  and  so  let  all  the  enemies 
of  (3-od  perish  !" 

*'  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  title,"  he  exclaims  a  few 
days  after,  referring  to  the  title  given  the  House  by 
CromwelPs  quasi  ''  lords."  •'  It  is  not  enough  that 
they  christen  themselves,  but  they  christen  you — that 
you  are  *  Commons.'  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  title, 
it  being  the  greatest  honor  under  heaven  to  serve  the 
people  in  the  meanest  capacity  in  this  house,  all  power 
being  originally  in  the  peopleP 

No  one  act  of  his  whole  life,  did  Scot  more  boldly 
and  proudly  justify,  everywhere,  and  on  all  occasions, 
than  the  condemnation  of  Charles  Stuart.  In  Richard 
Cromwell's  Parliament,  while  battling  by  the  side  of 
Yane,  against  the  resolution  which  recognized  the 
*'  undoubted  right"  of  the  Protector,  and  striving  to 
bring  back  the  government  to  tHe  simple  form  of  a  re- 
public,  as   it   had  existed   before  the   usurpation  of 


124  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

Oliver.  He  thus  vindicated  his  motives  and  his  con 
duct  on  the  trial  of  the  king:  "  It  was  impossible  to 
continue  hin:i  alive.  I  wish  all  had  heard  the  grounds 
of  our  resolutions  in  that  particular.  I  would  have 
had  all  our  consultings  in  for o  as  anything  els'3  was. 
It  was  resorted  to  as  the  last  refuge.  The  representa- 
tives, in  their  aggregate  body,  have  power  to  alter  or 
change  any  government^  being  thus  conducted  by 
Providence.  The  question  was — whose  was  that 
blood  that  was  shed  ?  It  could  not  be  ours.  Was  it 
not  the  king's  by  keeping  delinquents  from  punish- 
ment and  raising  armies  ?  The  vindictive  justice 
must  have  his  sacrifice  somewhere.  The  king  was 
called  to  a  bar  below  to   answer  for  that  blood.     "VYe 

DID    NOT    ASSASSINATE,  OR  DO    IT    IN    A    CORNER.       We    DID 
IT  IN  THE  FACE    OF  GOD  AND    OF    ALL    MEN." 

And  subsequently,  in  another  speech  in  the  same 
Parliament,  Scot  delivered  this  impassioned  exclama- 
tion— "  I  would  be  content  it  should  be  set  on  my 
monument — if  it  were  my  last  act  I  own  it — I  was 
ONE  OF  THE  king's  JUDGES  !  I  liopc  it  shall  not  be  said 
of  us  as  of  the  Romans  once — O  homines  ad  servitu- 
tern  parati  /" 

But  the  hope  of  the  indomitable  republican  was 
doomed  to  disappointment.  A  few  brief  months  re- 
vealed to  him  the  disheartening  truth  that  the  English 
people,  like  the  degenerate  Romans,  were  already  pre- 
pared for  slavery.  Scot  rc-assembled  with  his  intrepid 
associates  in  the  Long  Parliament ;  and  during  the 
bruf  period  of  the  restoration  of  the  Commonwealth, 


CHAPTER  m.  125 

endeavored  to  counteract  the  popular  revulsion  which 
was  rapidly  bearing  the  nation  onward  to  monarchy. 
"When  Monk  had  marched  his  army  upon  London, 
when  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy  was  resolved  on, 
and  the  Long  Parliament  was  about  finally  to  dissolve, 
many  of  the  Presbyterian  members  desired  to  excul- 
pate themselves,  and  make  their  peace  with  the  re- 
turning royalists,  by  passing  a  resolution  denouncing 
the  "horrid  murder"  of  the  late  king.  One  weak- 
spirited  member  arose  to  protest  that  he  had  neither 
hand  nor  heart  in  that  affair.'  Then  Scot  stood  up — 
his  spirit  unconquered  and  unyielding,  amid  the  wreck 
of  all  the  hopes  he  had  cherished  for  freedom — and 
wuth  a  stern,  moral  courage,  that  may  well  be  called 
heroic,  fearlessly  avowed  his  participation  in  the  deed: 
*'  Though  I  know  not  where  to  hide  my  head  at  this 
time,  yet  I  dare  not  refuse  to  own,  that  not  only  my 
hand,  bijt  my  heart  also,  was  in  it !"  They  were  the 
last  words  he  uttered  in  Parliament.  With  his  fellow 
*'  regicides,"  he  was  dragged  to  the  bar  of  the  Old 
Bailey,  and  arraigned  for  high  treason.  The  heroism 
of  his  defence  was  worthy  the  intrepidity  of  his  whole 
public  career.  With  proud  exultation  he  justified  his 
conduct  on  the  principle  he  had  always  avowed,  that 
with  the  people  rested  the  sovereign  power  to  alter  or 
change  their  government,  and  to  bring  their  rulers  to 
account ;  and  far  from  craving  or  expecting  mercy, 
he  hurled  an  almost  fierce  defiance  at  his  judges  and 
the  royal  authority.  Nor  did  he  shrink  from  avowing 
on  the   scafiold  his  unalterable   devotion  to  the  cause 


126  ALGEEXOK   SIDNEY. 

for  which  he  suffered.  He  blessed  Grod  "that  of  his 
free  grace  he  had  engaged  him  in  a  cause  not  to  be 
repented   of — T   say  in  a    cause    not   to    be   repented 

of ."    Here  the  sheriff  interfered,  and  the  sentence 

died  away  on  the  lips  of  the  martyred  regicide  ! 

It  would  be  pursuing  this  digression  too  far  should 
w^e  notice,  in  detail,  all  the  eminent  contemporaries  of 
Sidney,  who  united  with  him  in  establishing  and  sus- 
taining the  Commonwealth.  We  must  therefore  pass 
over  the  names  of  such  men  as  Blake,  the  illus- 
trious admiral,  whose  flag  never  declined  the  challenge 
of  an  enemy  ;  of  Fairfax,  the  resolute  and  able  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  armies  of  the  Parliament ;  of 
Ludlow,  the  frank-hearted  and  valiant  soldier,  and  the 
honest  and  consistent  republican  ;  of  Cromwell's  kins- 
man, Oliver  St.  John,  lord  chief  justice  of  England, 
decidedly  one  of  the  ablest  statesmen  of  the  age,  who, 
though  he  subsequently  adhered  to  the  Protector's  gov- 
ernment, yet  with  Yane,  Marten,  and  Bradshaw,  ren- 
dered the  noblest  service  to  the  popular  cause.  One 
name,  however,  stands  out  too  prominent  and  illustri- 
ous on  the  annals  of  that  period,  to  be  passed  over  in 
silence — it  is  the  name  of  Henry  Ireton,  the  splendor 
of  whose  talents  gave  promise  of  the  most  noble  ser- 
vices, and  whose  premature  fate  has  been  universally  re- 
gretted by  all  who  sympathize  with  the  popular  cause. 

Ireton  was  bred  to  the  bar.  It  is  remarkable 
that  the  great  mass  of  the  legal  profession,  and.  the 
most  learned  and  able  members  of  that  profession,  ad- 
hered-to  the  Parliament  and  the  cause  of  the  people  ; 


CHAPTEE  m.  127 

although  some  of  them,  such  as  Maynard,  Grlyn,  and 
Cooper,  subsequently  suffered  themselves  to  be  made 
the  tools  of  royalty.  Among  the  eminent  lawyers  who 
sustained  the  popular  side  during  either  the  common 
wealth  or  the  protectoral  government,  (besides  the 
names  just  mentioned,)  were  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  Sel- 
den,  Whitelocke,  St.  John,  Rolle,  Aske,  Coke,  Brad- 
shaw,  and  Nicholas. 

Having  joined  the  parliamentary  army,  Ireton  soon 
acquired  the  entire  confidence  of  Cromwell,  whoso 
daughter  Bridget  he  married.  On  the  remodelling  of 
the  army,  and  the  appointment  of  Fairfax,  general-in- 
chief,  with  Cromwell  as  his  lieutenant  and  general  of 
the  horse,  Ireton  was  named  one  of  the  twenty-six 
colonels.  More  fortunate  than  Sidney,  who  received 
his  appointment  at  the  same  time,  Ireton  was  enabled 
at  once  to  take  the  field  under  Cromwell,  and  joining 
the  army  of  Fairfax,  participated  in  the  decisive  battle 
of  Naseby.  Cromwell's  faculty  in  the  discrimination 
of  character  was  no  less  remarkable  than  Napoleon's. 
No  one  more  thoroughly  understood  or  justly  appre- 
ciated the  great  qualities  of  Ireton  and  the  superiority 
of  his  genius.  Indeed,  if  ho  had  a  confidant  in  the 
world — if  there  was  one  man  to  whom,  without  re- 
serve, the  inner  workings  of  that  incomprehensible 
mind  were  laid  open — that  man  was  Ireton.  There 
was  no  person  in  the  army,  or  out  of  the  army,  on 
whose  judgment  and  counsels  the  lord  general  so 
firmly  relied,  as  upon  his  able  and  accomplished  son- 
in-law.     In  the  great  battle  of  Naseby,  though  Fairfax 


128  ALGEElS'OlSr  SrD]ST:Y. 

was  nominally  commander-in-chief,  Cromwell  was  in 
reality  the  master  spirit,  and  made  the  principal  ar- 
rangements for  the  fight.  At  his  instance  Fairfax 
conferred  on  Ireton,  upon  the  field,  the  rank  of  com- 
missary-general, and  entrusted  to  him  the  important 
command  of  the  left  wing  of  the  army.  Cromwell 
himself  held  the  right,  and  Fairfax  and  Skippon  com 
manded  the  centre.  The  conduct  of  Ireton  upon  that 
day  was  the  conduct  not  only  of  an  able  and  skillful 
commander,  but  of  a  hero.  He  was  placed  in  the 
hottest  part  of  the  battle,  to  face  the  charge  of  Rupert 
and  his  cavalry  ;  nor  had  Cromwell  over-estimated  the 
indomitable  courage  of  the  lion-hearted  soldier.  His 
command,  it  is  true,  yielded  before  that  terrible  charge, 
which  never,  save  by  Cromwell,  was  successfully  re- 
sisted, but  Ireton,  with  desperate  valor  rallied  it 
again  and  again  to  the  contest.  It  was  not  till 
he  was  carried  a  prisoner,  wounded  and  insen- 
sible, from  the  field,  that  the  left  wing  was  finally 
routed.  But  the  day  was  not  lost  while  Cromwell's 
Ironsides  remained  unbroken.  The  great  general,  by 
one  of  those  rapid  and  overwhelming  movements  which 
so  often  turned  the  scale  of  battle,  retrieVed  the  for- 
tune of  the  day,  rescued  the  wounded  Ireton  from  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  and  routed  the  whole  royal  army 
with  great  slaughter.  The  star  of  Charles'  fortune 
went  down  on  that  field  of  blood  forever  ! 

Ireton's  conduct  in  war  was,  on  all  occasions,  equal 
to  his  gallantry  at  Naseby  fight.  In  the  expedition 
against  Ireland,  Cromwell  chose  him  his  second   in 


CHAPTER  m.  129 

command,  and  at  the  close  of  the  campaign  left  him 
in  the  government  of  that  kingdom.  Here  freton  dis- 
played his  usual  ahility,  both  in  the  field  and  in  the 
administration  of  the  government.  Even  Hume  is 
forced  to  admit  his  great  capacity,  and  his  "  strict 
execution  of  justice  in  that  unlimited  command  which 
he  possessed  in  Ireland."  The  same  historian,  while 
he  sneers  at  what  he  calls  the  facility  with  which 
Ireton  was  able  "  to  graft  the  soldier  on  the  lawyer, 
the  statesman  on  the  saint,"  renders  to  his  memory 
the  somewhat  equivocal  tribute  of  saying  that  *'  it  loas 
helieved  by  many  that-  he  was  animated  by  a  sincere 
and  passionate  love  of  liberty,  and  never  could  have 
been  induced,  by  any  motive  to  submit  to  the  smallest 
appearance  of  regal  government."  Hume  does  not 
state  whether  he  shared  in  this  belief;  but  we 
think  it  evident  that  he  little  appreciated  or  sympa- 
thized with  that  Roman  integrity  and  virtue,  that  stern 
and  inflexible  devotion  to  republican  principle,  which  so 
elevate  the  character  of  Ireton  in  the  eyes  of  mankind. 

The  genius  of  Ireton,  though  it  shone  with  resplen- 
dent lustre  on  the  field,  was  far  better  adapted  to  the 
pursuits  of  the  civilian,  or  the  statesman,  than  to 
those  of  the  soldier.  Before  Cromwell  found  him  en- 
rolled as  a  *'  captain  in  Col.  Thornhaugh's  regiment," 
and  while  yet  a  young  man  at  the  bar,  he  had  pro- 
jected various  legal  and  constitutional  reforms,  of  an 
original  and  striking  character.  But  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  civil  wars,  he  laid  aside  the  toga  for  the 


6* 


130  ALGEENON   SIDNEY. 

cuirass;  and  with  the  same  readiness,  he  quitted  the 
field  for  the  floor  of  Parliament. 

The  singular  influence  he  possessed  over  Cromwell, 
has  been  noticed.^^  While  Ireton  lived,  and  shared 
the  lord-general's  counsels,  the  latter  remained  true 
and  steadfast  to  the  cause  of  the  Commonwealth. 
Ireton  was  the  connecting  link  which  bound  Cromwell 
to  the  republicans.  It  appears,  however,  that  just- be- 
fore his  death,  he  began  to  suspect  the  ambitious 
designs  of  the  lord-general.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  states 
that  Ireton  had  actually  determined  to  return  to  Eng- 
land, in  order  to  divert  Cromwell  from  his  destructive 
course.  Who  shall  say  what  different  phase  might 
have  been  given  to  the  great  struggle  for  English 
liberty,  had  not  death  untimely  ended  the  career  of 
one  of  its  noblest  champions  ! 

Ireton  was  elected  to  Parliament  during  the  same 
year  with  Sidney.  One  cannot  help  imagining  that 
kindred  political  sentiments  served  to  cement  a  friend- 
ship between  two  young  men  of  characters  in  many 
respects  so  similar.  It  is  impossible  to  speak  here  of 
the  many,  and  varied,  and  eminent  services  rendered 
by  Ireton  to  the  cause,  during  his  legislative  career. 
It  may  be  mentioned,  however,  that  he  was  one  of  the 
most  determined  and  resolute  of  those  who  urged  on 
the  trial  of  the  king  ;  a  proceeding  whose  stern  justice 

*  Whitelocke  says  of  him — "  Cromwell  had  a  great  opinion  of  him, 
and  no  man  could  prevail  so  much  or  order  him  so  far,  as  Ireton  could. 
He  was  slout  in  the  field,  and  wary  and  prudent  in  his  counsel,  and  ex- 
ceedingly forward  as  to  the  business  of  a  commonwealth." 


CHAPTER   m.  131 

— whatever  may  be  thought  of  its  expediency — we 
have  the  less  reason  to  doubt,  from  the  very  fact  of  its 
being  advocated  by  one  of  a  mind  so  pure,  and  a  cha- 
racter so  disinterested.  With  Marten,  he  was  on  the 
most  important  committees  for  effecting  the  necessary 
change  in  government.  "With  Cromwell  and  Brad- 
shaw,  he  was  on  the  judgment  seat  that  sent  his  sove- 
reign to  the  block.  Indeed,  Bishop  Burnet  shields 
Cromwell,  and  throws  upon  Ireton  the  chief  responsi- 
bility. "  Ireton  was  the  person,"  he  says,  **  that  drove 
it  on  ;  for  Cromwell  was  all  the  while  in  some  sus- 
pense about  it.  Ireton  had  the  principles  and  the 
temper  of  a  Cassius ;  he  stuck  at  nothing  that  might 
have  turned  England  to  a  Commonwealth."  The 
same  Roman  virtue  and  resolution,  who  can  doubt, 
would  have  stuck  at  nothing  to  have  prevented  that 
Commonwealth,  once  established,  from  being  over- 
thrown, even  though  its  betrayer  had  been  the  friend 
in  whom  Ireton  had  trusted.  One  instance  of  the  dis- 
interested nature  of  Ireton's  patriotism,  is  preserved 
by  Ludlow,  and  may  be  here  related.  The  Parlia- 
ment, after  the  battle  of  Worcester,  voted  pensions 
and  estates  to  several  who  had  made  pecuniary  sacri- 
fices in  its  cause,  and  among  others,  an  estate  of  two 
thousand  a  year  to  Ireton.  Alone,  of  all,  he  refused  to 
take  it,  saying  to  the  Parliament,  in  reply,  that  "  they 
had  many  just  debts  which  he  desired  they  would 
pay,  before  they  made  any  such  presents."  Soon  after 
this  he  died  suddenly  in  Ireland,  of  the  plague,  in  the 
prime  of  life,  aged  about  forty  years.     His  death  was 


132  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

a  melancholy  affliction  to  Cromwell,  who  both  admired 
and  Ipved  him.  His  dead  body,  at  the  instance  of  the 
lord-general,  was  brought  from  Ireland,  and  laid,  with 
magnificent  funeral  ceremonies,  at  the  public  charge, 
in  Westminster  Abbey,  among  the  tombs  of  kings, 
there  to  remain,  till  the  saturnalia  of  the  Restoration, 
when  his  sepulchre  was  violated,  and  his  bones  hung 
up  by  the  side  of  Cromwell  and  Bradshaw,  upon  a 
gibbet  at  Tyburn — the  three  malefactors,  whose  names 
were,  of  all  others,  most  odious  and  detestable  to  the 
royalists. 

After  the  dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament,  Sid- 
ney remained  in  retirement  at  Penshurst.  Like  Yane 
and  Marten,  he  refused  to  sanction  the  legality  of 
CromwelPs  government,  by  accepting  any  office.  At' 
the  close  of  the  war  between  Holland  and  England,  in 
1654,  he  went  over  a  second  time  to  the  Hague. 
Through  Beverningk,  the  Dutch  ambassador,  .whom 
he  had  known  in  London,  he  became  acquainted  with 
many  of  the  celebrated  men  of  that  country,  and 
among  others,  with  that  truly  great  and  virtuous 
statesman,  John  De  Witt.  De  Witt  was,  at  that 
time,  G-rand  Pensionary  of  Holland.  Though  yet  a 
young  man,  three  years  the  junior  of  Sidney,  he  had 
acquired  a  reputation  famous  throughout  Europe — a 
reputation  which  a  subsequent  brilliant  career  exalted, 
and  which  has  become,  deservedly,  the  most  illustrious 
m  the  political  a«nals  of  his  country.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  burgomaster  of  Dort.  From  his  father  he 
inherited  republican  principles,    and  hostility  to  tho 


CHAPTER  m.  133 

House  of  Orange.  On  the  death  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  in  1650,  De  Witt,  then  just  entering  upon 
public  life,  firmly  and  successfully  opposed  the  project 
of  raising  the  infant  son  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  to 
the  stadtholdership.  By  his  ability  and  eloquence,  he 
maintained  the.  influence  of  Holland  in  the  Councils 
of  the  United  Provinces,  and  secured  to  his  country 
the  blessings  of  free  and  popular  institutions. 

Though  he  had  zealously  labored  to  avert  the  ca- 
lamity of  a  war  with  England,  yet,  when  that  war 
came  on,  he  exhausted  the  resources  of  a  mind  singu- 
larly fertile  in  invention,  to  crown  the  arms  of  his 
country  with  triumph,  and  to  bring  the  contest  to  a 
successful  close.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  remark,  that 
the  two  ablest  statesmen  in  Europe — Sir  Harry  Vane, 
in  England,  and  John  De  Witt,  in  the  United  Pro- 
vinces— were  at  the  head  of  the  foreign  departments 
of  the  two  republics  during  this  unnatural  war.  The 
contest  was  carried  on  upon  the  ocean ;  but  with  Do 
Witt  in  her  cabinet,  and  Van  Tromp  and  De  Ruyter 
in  command  of  her  fleets,  Holland  was  not  yet  des- 
tined to  lose  the  trident  of  the  seas.  Through  the 
influence  of  De  Witt,  whose  abilities  had  raised  him 
to  the  oflioe  of  Grand  Pensionary,  the  war,  so  ably 
conducted  on  the  part  of  the  States,  v/as  brought  to  a 
close.  Holland  returned  to  the  peaceful  pursuits  of 
her  commerce  and  industry  ;  her  republican  institu- 
tions seemed  based  upon  the  most  enduring  founda- 
tions ;  she  was  preparing  to  inscribe  in  her  annals  a 


134  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

glorious  chapter,  with  which  the  name  of  this,  her 
noblest  son,  was  destined  to  be  forever  associated. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  Sidney  first  met  De  Witt. 
The  intercourse  of  two  such  minds,  is  a  fact  worthy 
of  note  in  the  history  of  both.  The  speculative 
thoughts  which  the  one  meditated  in  his  closet,  were 
precisely  the  thoughts  which  the  other  was  laboring 
practically  to  apply  in  his  sphere  of  public  duty.  They 
were  men  who  could  appreciate  and  understand  each 
other.  Sidney's  was  a  character  which  De  Witt  could 
not  fail  to  admire  and  esteem  ;  to  the  English  repub- 
lican, the  Dutch  minister  doubtless  appeared  such  as 
years  afterwards  Mr.  Fox  described  him — "  the  wisest, 
the  best,  and  most  truly  patriotic  minister  that  ever 
appeared  upon  the  stage." 

Such,  indeed,  was  John  Do  Witt — the  melancholy 
catastrophe  of  w^hose  death  almost  demonstrates  the 
discouraging  maxim  that  republics  are  ungrateful. 
For  twenty  years  he  served  his  country  w^th  a  con- 
scientious rectitude,  and  an  ardor  of  patriotism  that 
has  never  been  excelled.  The  profound  genius  of  the 
man  we  can  estimate  only  by  the  great  deeds  he 
achieved.  During  the  second  war  with  England, 
which  he  again  labored  unsuccessfully  to  avert,  he 
was  the  soul  of  those  stupendous  exertions  which  per- 
vaded every  branch  of  the  Dutch  marine.  He  crowded 
the  harbors  and  whitened  the  seas  with  the  fleets  of 
the  republic.  Defeat  itself  seemed  only  to  endow  him 
with  new  energy,  and  develope  in  him  new  resources. 
The  waves  had  scarcely  closed  over  the  shattered  re- 


cnAPTEE  m.  135 

mains  of  one  armament,  ere  another  sprang  up,  as  if 
by  magic,  to  supply  its  place.  Rupert  and  Monk  had 
scarcely  borne  back  to  England  the  news  of  a  triumph 
over  the  enemy,  ere  the  startled  citizens  of  London 
heard  the  thunder  of  De  Ruyter's  cannon  from  the 
Thames.  His  compr-ehensive  mind  took  in  at  a  glance, 
the  broadest  principles  and  the  minutest  details  of 
government.  His  abilities  made  him  master  of  every 
branch  of  the  public  service.  When  occasion  required, 
he  took  command  of  the  fleet  in  person,  and  by  the 
novelty  and  value  of  his  inventions,*  and  the  improve- 
ments he  introduced,  in  this  new  sphere  of  action, 
proved  that  his  genius  was  not  only  original  and  pro- 
found, but  universal.  His  magnanimity  was  dis- 
played in  accepting  the  tuition  of  the  young  Prince  of 
Orange,  a  trust  which  he  executed  with  scrupulous 
fidelity  and  care.  The  wisdom  and  discernment  of  the 
prince,  still  a  mere  boy,  was  no  less  remarkable,  iu 
consenting  to  receive  instructions  from  one  who, 
though  the  first  statesman  of  his  country,  he  might 
regard,  as  in  some  sort,  his  hereditary  enemy.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  the  philosophical  and  en- 
lightened instructions  of  De  Witt,  and  above  all  the 
example  of  his  exalted  virtues  and  patriotism,  contri- 
buted much  to  the  formation  of  the  character  of  a 
king,  to  whose  wisdom  and  ability  England  is  so 
largely  indebted  for  the  liberty  she  this  day  enjoys. 

The   fate  of    this   wise    and    virtuous    republican 
magistrate,  has  been  truly  characterized  as  one  of  the 
most  completely  discouraging  examples  which  history 
•  The  invention  of  chain-shot  is  ascribed  to  De  Wilt. 


136  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

affords  to  the  lovers  of  liberty.  After  more  than 
twenty  years  of  public  service,  he  was  driven  from  the 
station  he  had  filled,  by  one  of  those  sudden  revulsions 
of  public  feeling  which  is  engendered  by  despair,  at 
a  moment  of  fearful  danger  to  his  country,  when  the 
most  powerful  nations  in  Europe  were  leagued  for  her 
destruction,  and  when  such  services  and  such  fidelity 
as  his,  were  most  needed.  Visiting  his  brother  pri- 
vately in  prison,  the  popular  wrath  fell  upon  the 
head  of  the  devoted  minister.  The  furious  mob 
dragged  the  illustrious  victims  from  the  place  of  their 
retreat,  and  literally  tore  them  in  pieces.  Such  was 
the  inglorious  martyrdom  of  De  Witt;  a  sacrifice  to 
the  insane  fury  of  the  populace,  whom  he  had  so  long 
and  so  faithfully  served — immolated  by  a  blinded  demo-  ^ 
cracy  at  the  very  shrine  which  his  own  hands  had  con- 
secrated to  liberty. 

On  his  return  .  from  the  Hague  in  1654,  Sidney 
again  retired  to  Penshurst,  and,  except  for  an  occa- 
sional excursion  to  London,  or  a  visit  to  his  relative, 
the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  at  his  seat  in  Sussex,  he 
rarely  left  his  retreat.  He  devoted  much  of  his  time 
to  literary  pursuits,  and  to  those  dignified  and  philoso- 
phical speculations  upon  history  and  political  ethics, 
which  were  so  congenial  to  his  taste.  An  Essay  on 
Love,  found  among  his  papers,  is  supposed  to  have 
been  written  during  this  period.  His  Commonplace 
Book^  preserved  in  the  library  at  Penshurst,  is  said  to 
exhibit  a  copious  store  of  materials  collected  from  the 
political  history  of  all  civilized  nations,  illustrative  of 


cnAPTEE  in.  137 

every  branch  of  policy  and  government.  It  is  thought 
that  the  materials  for  his  great  work,  the  Discourses 
on  Government,  were,  at  this  early  ^period,  collected 
and  partially  arranged,  and  that  the  imperfect  papers 
produced  at  his  trial,  a  part  of  the  same  design,  were 
also  written  during  his  residence  at  Penshurst.* 

Constant  to  the  principles  he  had  adopted,  Sidney 
still  refused  to  acknowledge  the  Protector's  govern- 
ment.  Though  his  friends  Bradshaw  and  Scot  tlid 
not  hesitate  to  appear  among  the  ranks  of  the  opposi- 
tion in  Cromwell's  Parliament,  he  himself  embraced 
other  views  of  duty,  and  continued  to  regard  an 
entire  seclusion  from  public  affairs  as  the  course  most 
consistent  with  his  own  sense  of  propriety.  His 
eldest  brother,  Philip,  Lord  Lisle,  adhered  to  the  Pro- 
tector, and  was  one  of  his  w^armest  partisans.  Lisle 
had  been  summoned  by  Cromwell  as  a  member  of  the 
"  Barebone  Parliament,"  and  so  highly  did  he 
acquire  the  lord-general's  confidence,  that  on  the 
installation  of  the  protectoral  government,  he  was 
named  the  first  upon  the  Council  of  State.  He  seems 
to  have  taken  great  umbrage  at  the  contempt  and  dis- 
gust which  Sidney  manifested  toward  the  Protector 
and  his  government.  On  one  occasion  Sidney,  to 
relieve  the  dulness  which  reigned  at  Penshurst,  and  to 
amuse  his  lordship's  household,  managed  to  get  up  a 
lay,  which,  either  by  accident  or  design,  reflected  se- 
verely upon  the  Protector.  The  indignation  of  his 
brother  could  no  longer  be  restrained.  In  a  letter  to  the 

*  Meadley's  Memoirs,  p.  .57. 


138  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

Earl  of  Leicester,  under  date  of  Jane  ITth,  1656,  he 
thus  expresses  himself  : — 

"  In  my  poor  opinion,  the  husiness  of  your  lord- 
ship's house  hath  passed  somewhat  unluckily,  and 
that  it  had  been  better  used  to  do  a  seasonable  cour- 
tesy to  the  Lord  Protector,  than  to  have  had  such  a 
play  acted  in  it,  of  public  aflTront,  which  doth  much 
entertain  the  town.  I  have  been  in  some  places 
where  they  told  me  they  were  exceedingly  pleased 
with  the  gallant  relation  of  tlie  chief  actoT\xi  it,  and 
that  by  applauding  him  they  put  him  several  times 
upon  it." 

The  play  is  thought  to  have  been  Shakspeare's 
Julius  Coesar^  Sidney, — "  the  chief  actor," — sustain- 
ing the  part  of  Marcus  Brutus.  The  dissatisfaction  of 
his  brother  was  increased  by  the  suspicion  that  Alger- 
non was  the  favorite  son  of  his  father.  The  old  earl, 
on  all  occasions,  manifested  towards  him  an  affection 
and  confidence  which  awakened  the  keen  jealousy  of 
the  eldest  son  and  heir.  In  the  same  letter,  Lisle 
does  not  pretend  to  conceal  his  spleen  and  mortifica- 
tion, and  even  indulges  in  some  very  unworthy  reflec- 
tions on  his  brother  : — 

*' J  have  my  constant  sorrow  to  see  that  your  lord- 
ship never  omits  an  opportunity  to  reproach  me  ;  and 
in  earnest  I  think,  laying  all  other  matters  aside,  this, 
which  hath  appeared  most  eminently  upon  this  occa- 
sion, is  very  extraordinary,  that  the  youngest  son 
should  so  domineer  in  the  house,  that  not  only  in 
regard  to  this  matter,  which  I  have  spoken  of,  but  at 


CHAPTER  m.  139 

all  times,  I  am  uncertam  whether  I  can  have  the 
liberty  to  look  into  it  or  not;  for  it  seems  it  is  not  his 
chamber,  bat  the  great  rooms  of  the  house,  and  per- 
haps the  whole,  he  commands,  and  upon  this  occasion, 
I  may  most  properly  say  it,  that  his  extremest  vanity 
and  'Want  of  judgment  are  bo  known  that  there  will 
be  some  wonder  at  it." 

Sidney  was  recalled  from  his  retirement  by  the 
downfall  of  the  protectoral  government,  and  the  sum- 
moning together  on  the  7th  of  May,  1659,  of  the 
members  of  that  Parliament  which  Cromwell  had* 
dissolved.  Here  he  met  his  old  associates,  Yane,  Mar- 
ten, Scot,  and  the  other  chiefs  of  the  republican  party. 
Sidney  co-operated  with  them  in  their  first  act,  the 
passage  of  a  resolution  to  secure  the  liberty  and  prop- 
erty of  the  people,  and  to  administer  the  government 
without  '•  a  single  person,  kingship,  or  a  House  of 
Lords,"  The  forms  of  the  Commonwealth  were  once 
more  revived  ;  the  republic  was  for  a  brief  season 
re-established ;  the  statesmen  of  the  revolution  were 
again  at  the  helm.  Sidney  took  his  place  in  the  Ex- 
ecutive Council  of  the  government.  He  remained  in 
it,  however,  but  a  brief  period.  Within  a  month  after 
the  Parliament  assembled,  he  was  called  to  a  new 
sphere  of  duty,  and  to  the  performance  of  other  and 
no  less  responsible  services  in  behalf  of  the  Common- 
wealth. He  accepted  the  trust,  and  resigned  his -seat 
in  the  Council  and  House.  His  legislative  career 
closed  forever. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  trace  the  counter  revolution 


140  ALGEENOK  SIDNEY. 

which  overthrew  the  Commonwealth  and  brought  in 
the  king.  That  the  Parliament  was  decrepid  and 
powerless  ;  that  it  had  outlived  the  public  sentiment 
which  had  formerly  sustained  it ;  that  the  people  were 
wearied  with  these  frequent  changes  in  the  govern- 
ment ;  that  a  strong  re-action  had  taken  place  in  the 
public  mind  in  favor  of  royalty,  is  evident  from  the 
events  which  so  rapidly  followed.  The  golden  mo- 
ment had  gone  by  when  the  Republic  might  have 
been  established.     The  soul  of  the  Commonwealth  lay 

♦entombed  in  the  grave  of  Cromwell.  Monk  marched 
his  army  from  Scotland  to  thejsity  of  London.  He 
found  the  republican  party  broken,  discordant,  and 
aimless.  The  noblest  of  them,  in  the  front  rank  of 
whom  stood  Yane,  made  a  stout  resistance  ;  but  re- 
sistance was  idle.  Monk,  at  the  head  of  his  army, 
acted  the  dictator,  as  Cromwell  had  done.  He  declared 
for  a  "  free  Parliament."  All  London,  we  are  told, 
was  wild  with  joy  ;  the  streets  blazed  with  bonfires; 
the  gutters  ran  with  ale.  The  king  was  invited  back 
"  to  enjoy  his  own  again,"  and  raised  without  condi- 
tions tg  the   throne.      In   a  moment   of  enthusiastic 

-loyalty  and  blind  folly,  the  people  of  England  sur- 
rendered, unreservedly,  to  Charles  H.,  the  liberties 
which  the  swords  of  the  Puritans  had  wrung  from  the 
reluctant  hands  of  his  father. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Appointed  on  the  embassy  to  Denmark  and  Sweden — Importance  and 
nature  of  the  mission — Arrives  at  Copenhagen — Goes  to  Stockholm — 
His  conduct  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  ambassador — Embarrass- 
ment of  Sidney  at  the  Restoration — Letters  respecting  it  to  his  father 
— Progress  and  rlose  of  his  negotiations — Prepares  to  return  from 
Sweden — Letters  to  his  father — His  equivocal  position  with  the  gov- 
'ernment  at  honr? — Letters  to  his  father  respecting  it — Returns  to 
Copenhagen— Goes  to  Hamburgh — Letter  of  Lord  Leicester — Dis- 
couraging prospects  of  Sidney — He  abandons  the  idea  of  returning  to 
England,  and  recuses  to  submit  to  the  terms  required  of  him  at  home 
— Letter  of  Si  *ney  from  Hamburgh — Letter  from  Augsbugh — He 
acknowledgea  and  justifies  the  offences  charged  against  him — His 
views  of  the  »v%t  of  indemnity — Cause  of  the  hostility  of  the  govern- 
ment against  f^idney — Letter  of  Sidney  in  respect  to  it — He  submits 
to  voluntary  txile— Conduct  of  the  government  in  the  execution  of 
the  regicidM— Scrope,  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrig,  and  Lambert — Partial 
statements  rf  Hume  respecting  the  execution  of  the  regicides — Re- 
flections en  (he  trial  and  execution  of  General  Harrison — Reasons 
of  Sidney's  lefusal  to  return  to  England— His  letter  to  his  father  on 
that  subject — His  views  of  the  government  at  home  and  his  relation  to  it 
— Letter  to  a  friend. 

Having  accepted  the  mission  conferred  on  him  by 
Parliament,  Sidney  at  once  entered  on  the  discharge 


142  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

of  its  duties.  In  conjunction  with  AYhitelocke  and 
Sir  Robert  Honeywood,  who  were  appointed  to  act 
with  him,  he  was  charged  to  mediate  a  peace  between 
the  kings  of  Denmark  and  Sweden.  Whitelocke  was 
unwilling  to  undertake  the  service,  by  reason,  as  he 
alleged,  of  his  old  age  and  infirmities,  but  really,  as 
it  seems,  out  of  jealousy.  He  had  been  sent  by  Crom- 
well sole  ambassador  to  the  Queen  of  Sweden,  and  he 
could  not  brook  the  thought  of  acting  a  subordinate 
part  at  the  same  court.  *'  I  w^oll  knew,"  he  observes 
in  his  Memoirs,  ^^  the  overruling'  temjper  and  height 
of  Col.  Sidney^  "Whitelocke  thereupon  declined  the 
appointment,  and  Thomas  Boone,  a  merchant  of  Lon- 
don, was  named  one  of  the  commissioners  in  his  stead. 
It  appears  manifest,  however,  that  Sidney  had  the 
chief  control  of  the  negotiations,  and  that  he  derived 
ve'ry  little  aid  from  the  counsels  of  his  associates. 

This  mission  was  one  of  much  importance  to  both 
England  and  Holland,  as  a  peade  between  their  allies, 
Denmark  and  Sweden,  would  secure  to  both  nations 
the  free  navigation  of  the  Sound.  Accordingly  the 
States  General  united  with  England  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  plenipotentiaries  to  negotiate  a  peace.  The 
English  commissioners  set  out  early  in  July,  1659, 
and  arrived  at  Elsineuron  the  21st  of  the  same  month. 
Admiral  Montagu,  afterwards  Earl  of  Sandwich,  was 
then  in  command  of  the  English  fleet  lying  in  the 
Sound.  The  officers  of  the  several  ships,  who  had 
been  apprised  of  the  change  of  government,  had  sent 
in  their  adhesion  to  the  Commonwealth ;  but  Mon- 


CH AFTER  IV.  143 

tagu  was  spcretly  attachptj  to  the  interests  of  Charles 
II.,  and  was  even  then  preparing  to  return  to  Eng- 
land with  his  whole  fleet,  to  favor  the  royal  cause. 
He  had  an  interview  at  Elsineur  with  Sidney,  who 
soon  fathomed  his  intentions,  and  immediately  ap- 
prised the  Parliament.  Six  additional  frigates  were 
ordered  to  be  equipped,  under  the  command  of  Lawson, 
to  prevent  the  attempt,  and  to  oppose  any  invasion  by 
the  cavaliers  from  Flanders.  But,  as  it  proved,  it  was 
not  from  this  point  that  the  real  danger  to  the  repub- 
lic was  to  arise.  It  lay  less  obvious  and  nearer  home. 
Traitorous  friends,  and  not  foreign  enemies,  were  to 
destroy  the  fabric  which  the  statesmen  of  the  Com- 
monwealth had  reared,  and  lay  the  liberties  of  Eng- 
land once  rnore  at  the  footstool  of  her  kings. 

In  the  prompt  execution  of  this  mission,  Sidney 
repaired  from  Copenhagen  to  Stockholm.  He  was 
eminently  successful.  In  this  new  field — the  field  of 
cTiplomacy — his  fertile  genius  appeared  as  well  adapt- 
ed to  advance  the  honor  of  his  country,  as  it  had 
proved  to  be  in  the  senate  and  on  the  field.  Having 
completed  the  negotiations,  as  he  subsequently  with 
truth  expressed  it,  *'  to  the  advantage  of  all  Europe, 
and  the  honor  of  this  nation,"  he  was  ready  to  return 
to  his  own  country,  according  to  the  permission  given 
him  and  his  colleague  by  the  council  of  state  ;  but,  in 
the  mean  time,  the  restoration  of  the  king  had  been 
eflected,  and  Sidney,  not  knowing  what  construction 
would  be  put  upon  his  conduct  by  the  restored  govern- 
ment, wisely  concluded  for  the  present  to  remain  be- 


144  ALGERNON  SIDlsTTT. 

yond  seas.  Some  of  his  letters  to  his  father,  about 
this  period,  have  been  preserved,  and  strikingly  exhibit 
the  steadiness  of  his  temper,  and  his  high-toned  sense 
of  duty  and  honor.  In  one  of  these,  written  before 
the  news  of  the  restoration  of  the  kinsr  had  reached 
him,  though  in  view  of  that  event  which  was  then 
pretty  certain  to  take  place,  h§  says  :  "  If  I  do  not  re- 
ceive /lew  orders,  I  shall  return  speedily  home,  and  shall 
then  follow  that  way  which  your  lordship  shall  com- 
mand and  my  best  friends  advise,  as  far  as  I  can,  without 
hrealdng  the  rules  of  honor  or  conscience,  which  I 
am  sure  wuU  never  be  expected  from  me  by  your  lord- 
ship, nor  those  whose  opinions  I  consider.  Whilst  lam 
here  1  serve  England,  and  will,  with  as  much  care  and 
diligence  as  I  can,  endeavor  to  advance  its  interests, 
and  follow  the  orders  of  those  that  govern  it.  I  re- 
serve the  determination  of  other  points  to  counsels 
upon  the  peace." 

In  another  letter,  dated  at  Stockholm,  June  16th, 
1660,  as  appears  after  the  object  of  his  mission  had 
been  accomplished,  referring  to  the  restoration  of  the 
monarchy  he  says  : — 

"  We  could  not  think  it  at  all  reasonable  to  leave 
the  work  in  which  we  were  employed,  when  we  saw  a 
certainty  of  accomplishing  it  within  a  short  time, 
unless  we  had  received  a  positive  command.  *  * 
*  ^  *  I  am  here  alone.  My  colleague 
intended  to  make  the  same  journey,  but  the  gout  con- 
fined him  to  his  bed.  I  look  upon  all  the  powers 
granted  unto  us  as  extinguished  by  the  coming  in  of 


CHAPTER  ly.  145 

the  king,  and  do  not  take  upon  me  to  do  anything,  as 
a  public  minister,  except  it  be  giving  notice  unto  the 
crowns  of  Sweden  and  Denmark,  of  the  restitution  of 
the  ancient  government  of  England,  and  the  proclaim- 
ing of  the  king.  Upon  this  occasion  I  accept  of  a 
public  audience  which  is  here  offered  unto  me  ;  I 
should  have  avoided  it  upon  all  other  occasions." 

The  progress  of  this  negotiation  is  accurately  de- 
tailed by  Sidney  in  his  several  letters  to  his  father. 
At  first  it  was  attended  with  many  difficulties  and 
delays,  and  the  Council  of  State  even  gave  the  Com- 
missioners leave  to  return  home,  if  they  thought 
proper,  before  it  was  accomplished.  This,  however, 
they  did  not  do,  but  dispatched  one  of  their  number, 
Mr.  Boone,  to  England,  during  the  year.  Sidney 
writes,  that  he  himself  desired  that  place,  but  that 
"  the  princes  with  whom  we  are  to  treat,  and  our 
fellow-mediating  ministers  did  not  consent." 

In  a  letter  under  date  of  the  23d  of  June,  *1660,  he 
congratulates  his  father  upon  his  having  resumed  his 
former  place  in  the  House  of  Peers.  The  object  of 
his  mission  had  then  been  accomplished,  and  regard- 
ing his  powers  as  extinct,  he  was  preparing  to  retire 
from  Sweden.  In  relation  to  the  peace  he  had  just 
concluded,  and  his  reception  at  the  court  of  Sweden, 
he  remarks  : — 

"  The  conclusion  of  what  has  been  managed  by  my 

colleagues  and  me,  must  be  left  to  such  person  as  the 

king  shall  please  to  employ  in  it.     God  be  thanked,  he 

will  find   little   difficulty ;  if  he   can   but  write  his 

7 


146 


ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 


name,  he  will  be  able  enough  for  anything  that 
remains  to  be  done.  1  have  been  received  here  as  I 
desired  ;  if  J  would  have  had  more  ceremony,  the 
State  would  have  allowed  it  to  me ;  but  esteeming 
my  powers  extinct  by  the  king's  restitution.  I  did 
avoid  all  things  of  that  kind  that  could  be  decently 
omitted.  I  find  this  crown  exceedingly  well  satisfied 
with  the  peace  that  is  made,  and  resolved  to  perform 
exactly  and  handsomely,  all  that  was  agreed." 

In  respect  to  his  own  equivocal  relations  with  the 
English  government,  he  adds  : — 

"  I  am  uncertain  how  my  actions  or  person  will  be 
looked  upon  at  home.  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  give 
a  good  account  of  all  that  I  have  done  here,  and  for 
other  things  I  must  take  my  fortune  with  the  rest 
of  my  companions.  The  Council,  in  their  last  letter 
to  my  colleague  and  me,  said,  that  for  the  future,  we 
must  expect  orders  from  the  king,  unless  we  did 
resolve  tc^  return  home  according  to  the  liberty  for- 
merly granted  us.  We  embraced  that  concession,  and 
the  peace  being  made  for  which  we  were  sent,  resolve 
to  return,  unless  we  have  some  commands  from  his 
Majesty.  If  we  receive  any  such,  they  shall  be 
obeyed;  nothing  else  shall,  by  our  consent,  retard  our 
return." 

But  Sidney  waited  in  vain  for  any  commands  from 
his  majesty,  or,  indeed,  any  recognition  of  his  charac- 
ter as  a  public  minister.  He  had  been  too  deeply 
engaged  in  the  revolution,  was  too  prominent  and 
marked  an  object,  to  receive  anything    but   enmity 


CHAPTER  IV.  14:7 

and  persecution  at  the  hands  of  the  government  of 
Charles  IF.  It  is  true  he  came  within  the  general 
act  of  amnesty,  afterwards  passed,  which  excepted 
alone  the  '*  regicides,"  as  they  were  called,  and  a  few 
others  ;  but  he  lay,  for  years  after,  under  the  ban  of 
the  government,  and  his  return  into  England,  if  not 
absolutely  prohibited,  it  was  more  than  intimated, 
would  be  a  matter  of  personal  peril  and  danger.  To 
a  mind  like  Sidney's,  expatriation  and  banishment 
appeared  the  heaviest  misfortunes  that  could  befal 
him.  He  loved  his  country  with  a  sincere  and  ardent 
affection.  Even  in  her  fall  it  was  his  country  still, 
and  he  longed  to  return  once  more  to  her  shores.  It 
is  not  remarkable,  therefore,  that  we  find  some  of  his 
letters,  about  this  period,  expressing  much  solicitude 
as  to  his  return,  and  the  probability  that  he  might 
find  sufficient  favor  with  the  government  to  suffer 
him,  at  least,  to  place  his  foot  once  more  upon  the 
soil  of  England.  In  one  of  his  letters  from  Stock- 
holm, he  says  : — 

**  I  do  not  at  all  know  in  what  condition  I  am 
there,  (in  England,)  not  what  effect  I  shall  find  of  Gen- 
eral Monk's  expression  of  kindness  toward  me,  and 
his  remembrance  of  the  ancient  friendship  that  was 
between  us  ;  but  the  Lord  Fleetwood's  letters  to  the 
Senate,  and  private  persons  here,  mention  discourses 
that  he  makes  much  to  my  advantage." 

June  27th,  1660,  a  day  or  two  before  leaving  Swe- 
den, he  writes  : — 

"  The  news  I  have  from  England  is  punctual  and 


148  ALGERNON-   SIDNEY. 

certain  enough  ;  but  my  friends  are  so  short  in  what 
relates  particularly  unto  myself  that  I  can  make  no 
judgment  at  all  upon  what  they  say.  Perhaps  the 
truth  is,  they  can  say  njthing  to  my  advantage  and 
leave  me  to  guess  at  the  rest  by  public  things." 

In  the  same  letter  he  speaks  of  a  report  that  his 
father  is  to  be  sent  governor  into  Ireland,  adding,  that 
if  the  report  be  true,  "  I  should  not  be  content  to  stay 
here,  believing  that  if  I  am  capable  of  doing  service 
in  any  place  in  the  world  it  is  there,  where  I  have 
some  knowledge  of  persons,  places,  and  business , 
but  how  likely  my  service  is  to  be  accepted  I  cannot 
at  alljudgeP 

From  Copenhagen,  on  the  14th  of  July,  he  again 
wrote  to  his  father  a  long  letter,  filled  mainly  with 
matters  relating  to  his  public  business,  which  was 
now  closed.  The  conviction  he  before  expressed  that 
he  did  not  feel  at  all  assured  that  new  orders  would 
be  sent  to  him,  was  now  rendered  a  certainty,  and  he 
was  preparing  to  leave  Denmark,  as  he  had  left  Swe- 
den, where,  his  public  mission  being  closed,  he  did 
not  choose  to  reside  as  a  private  person.  His  course 
was  directed  to  Hamburgh  and  Holland.  Previous  to 
leaving  Copenhagen,  he  wrote  once  more  to  the  Earl 
of  Leicester  a  brief  letter,  expressing  some  impatience 
that  he  had  not  received  any  directions  in  respect  to 
his  future  course.  ^'  I  do  not  yet  very  well  know  in 
what  place  I  shall  stay  until  I  hear  further  from  Eng- 
land. I  did  hope  that  upon  such  occasions  as  those 
that  have  of  late  befallen  me,  your   lordship  would 


CHAPTER   IV.  149 

have  been  pleased  to  have  sent  me  some  commands 
and  advices  how  to  dispose  of  myself,  more  particu- 
larly than  by  such  an  one  as  I  had  sent  over  with 
letters." 

His  father's  answer  at  length  came — a  cold  and 
unwelcome  answer — confirming  the  resolution  he  had 
already  formed,  not  to  return  to  England.  The  old 
earl  in  his  letter  is  somewhat  querulous  and  pettish. 
He  excuses  his  neglect  as  a  correspondent,  by  saying, 
"  Disuse  in  writing  hath  made  it  weary  to  me.  Age 
makes  it  hard,  and  the  weakness  of  sight  and  hand 
makes  it  almost  impossible."  He  then  chides  his  son 
for  his  neglect : — "  After  you  had  left  me  sick,  solitary, 
and  sad  at  Penshurst,  and  that  you  had  resolved  to 
undertake  the  employment,  wherein  you  have  lately 
been,  you  neither  came  to  give  a  farewell,  nor  did  so 
much  as  send  one  to  me,  but  only  writ  a  wrangling 
letter  or  two  about  money,"  &o. 

The  sum  of  the  letter  seems  to  be,  that  his  lord- 
ship thinks  it  unfit,  and,  perhaps  as  yet,  unsafe  for 
his  son  to  come  into  England.  The  reason  he  assigns 
is,  that  he  had  heard  Sidney  was  likely  to  be  ex- 
cepted out  of  the  act  of  pardon  and  oblivion  ;  he 
knew  not,  he  says,  what  his  son  had  done  or  said,  but 
he  has  in  several  ways  heard  that  there  is  as  ill  an 
opinion  of  him  as  of  any,  even  of  those  that  condemn- 
ed the  late  king.  He  had  spoken,  he  further  says,  in 
his  behalf,  to  the  General,  (Monk,)  who  was  then,  of 
course,  high  in  favor  with  the  king,  and  had  '*  intend- 
ed to  speak  with  somebody  else,  you  may  guess  whom 


150  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

I  mean," — this  probably  refers  to  the  king  himself — 
"  but  since  that,  I  have  heard  such  things  of  you,  that 
in  the  doubtfulness  only  of  their  being  true,  no  man 
will  open  his  mouth  for  you."  These  reports  which 
had  thus  reached  the  Earl  of  Leicester's  ears,  and 
were  whispered  in  the  court  of  Charles  II.,  were 
some  of  them  true.  They  were,  no  doubt,  one  of  the 
causes  of  the  inveterate  enmity  so  long  cherished 
against  Sidney  by  that  monarch.  Highlyprejudicial  to 
his  character  in  that  court,  to  us  they  appear  nothing 
more  than  the  free  and  bold  thousjhts  of  a  mind  which 
the  deeply  cherished  principles  of  liberty.  We  shall 
give  these  reports,  which  so  shocked  the  old  earl,  in 
his  own  quaint  language. 

*'  It  is  said  that  the  University  of  Copenhagen 
brought  their  album  unto  you,  desiring  you  to  write 
something  therein,  and  that  you  did  scribere  in  albo 
these  words : — 

Manus  hsec  inimica  tyrannis 

Ense  petit  placidam  sub  libertate  quietem.* 

It  is  also  said  that  a  minister  who  hath  married  a 
lady  Laurence,  here  at  Chelsea,  but  now  dwelling  at 
Copenhagen,  being  there  in  company  with  you,  said — 
*  I  think  you  were  none  of  the  late  king's  judges,  nor 

"*  In  Lord  Molesworth's  preface  to  his  account  of  Denmark,  it  is  said 
that  these  words  were  written  by  Sidney  in  the  book  of  mottoes  in  the 
king's  library,  according  to  the  liberty  allowed  to  all  noble  strangers, 
and  that  the  French  ambassador  had  the  assurance  to  tear  out  the  leaf 
containing  the  passage,  considering  it  a  libel  on  the  French  government 
and  also  upon  that  of  Denmark,  the  establishing  of  which  France  was 
then  favoring. 


CHAPTER   IV.  151 

guilty  of  his  death,'  meaning  our  king ;  '  Guilty,' 
said  you,  *  do  you  call  that  guilt  ?  why  it  was  the 
justest  and  bravest  action  that  ever  was  done  in  Eng- 
land or  anywhere  else,''  with  other  words  to  the  same 
effect.  It  is  said  also  that  you  having  heard  of  a 
design  to  seize  upon  you,  or  cause  you  to  be  taken 
prisoner,  you  took  notice  of  it  to  the  King  of  Den- 
mark himself,  and  said — *  I  hear  there  is  a  design  to 
seize  upon  me  ;  but  who  is  it  that  hath  that  design  ? 
Est  ce  notre  bandit  ?^  by  which  you  were  understood 
to  mean  the  king.  Besides  this,  it  is  reported  that 
you  have  been  heard  to  say  many  scornful  and  con- 
temptuous things  of  the  king's  person  and  family, 
which,  unless  you  can  justify  yourself,  will  hardly  be 
forgiven  or  forgotten,  for  such  personal  offences 
make  deeper  impressions  than  public  actions  either  of 
war  or  of  treaty." 

The  earl  was  undoubtedly  right.  Such  offences  as 
these  were  neither  to  bo  forgotten  nor  forgiven.  They 
exhibited  the  high  spirit  and  lofty  independence  of 
character  of  Algernon  Sidney  too  plainly  for  him  to 
expect  either  favor  or  clemency  from  the  vengeful 
government  of  Charles  II.  and  Clarendon.  It  was 
penitence  for  the  past,  a  time-serving  sycophancy,  a 
total,  abject  submission,  a  complete  sacrifice  of  opin- 
ions and  independence,  that  was  demanded  as  the 
condition  of  pardon.  The  proud  and  lofty  mind  of 
Sidney  could  not  bend  to  this  imperious  demand; 
he  refused  to  submit  to  the  humiliation,  and  scorned 
the  infamous  condition  of  royal  clemency.      On  the 


152  ALGERNON-  SIDNEY. 

very  day  his  father  was  penning  the  letter,  from  which 
the  foregoing  extracts  are  made,  Sidney  wrote  to  him 
from  Hamburgh,  assuring  him  that  he  had  abandoned, 
for  the  present,  all  thoughts  of  returning  home.  Hi.c 
proud  and  unbending  spirit  seems  to  breathe  througl 
every  sentence  he  pens.  There  is  an  earnest  sincerity 
a  high-tuned  and  manly  sentiment,  a  deep,  and  stern, 
and  resolute  determination,  pervading  the  language 
in  which  he  contemptuously  spurns  the  condition  of 
pardon  offered  him,  and  which  elevate  even  our  high- 
est conceptions  of  his  character. 

"  I  know  myself  to  be  in  a  condition  that  for  all 
circumstances,  is  as  ill  as  outward  things  can 
make  it :  this  is  my  only  consolation,  that  when  I  call 
to  remembrance,  as  exactly  as  I  can,  all  my  actions 
relating  to  our  civil  distempers,  T  cannot  find  one  that 
I  can  look  upon  as  a  breach  of  the  rules  of  justice  and 
honor.  This  is  my  strength,  and  I  thank  Grod  by  this 
I  enjoy  very  serene  thoughts.  If  I  lose  this,  hy  vile, 
and  unworthy  submissions^  acknoioledgment  of  errors^ 
asking  pardon^  or  the  like^  I  shall^from  that  moment^ 
be  the  miserablest  man  alive^  and  the  scorn  of  all  men. 
I  know  the  titles  that  are  given  me  of  fierce,  violent, 
seditious,  mutinous,  turbulent,  and  many  others  of 
the  like  nature  ;  but  G-od  that  gives  me  inward  peace 
in  my  outward  troubles,  doth  know  that  I  do  in  my 
heart  choose  an  innocent,  quiet  retirement,  before  any 
place  unto  which  I  could  hope  to  raise  myself  by 
those  actions  which  they  condemn,  and  did'  never  put 
myself  upon  any  of  them,  but  when  I  could  not  enjoy 


CHAPTER   IV.  153 

the  one,  or  thought  the  other  my  duty.  If  I  could 
write  and  talk  like  Col.  Hutchinson,  or  Sir  Grilbert 
Pickering,  I  believe  I  might  be  quiet ;  contempt 
might  procure  my  safety  ;  but  I  had  rather  he  a  vaga- 
bond all  my  life  than  buy  my  own  country  at  so  dear 
a  rate.  #*:**# 

It  will  be  thought  a  strange  extravagance  for  one  that 
esteemed  it  no  dishonor  to  make  himself  equal  unto  a 
great  many  mean  people,  and  below  some  of  them,  to 
make  war  upon  the  king,  and  is  ashamed  to  submit 
unto  the  king,  now  he  is  encompassed  with  all  the 
nobles  of  the  land,  and  in  the  height  of  his  glory,  so 
that  none  are  so  happy  as  those  that  can  first  cast 
themselves  at  his  feet.  I  have  enough  to  answer  all 
this  in  my  own  mind  ;  I  cannot  help  it  if  I  judge 
amiss.  I  did  not  make  myself,  nor  can  I  help  the 
defects  of  my  own  creation.  I  walk  in  the  light  God 
hath  given  me  ;  if  it  be  dim  or  uncertain,  I  must  bear 
the  penalty  of  my  errors.  I  hope  to  do  it  with 
patience,  and  that  no  burden  shall  be  very  grievous  to 
me  except  sin  and  shame.  G-od  keep  me  from  those 
evils,  and  in  all  things  else  dispose  of  me  according  to 
his  pleasure." 

In  respect  to  the  offences  charged  against  him  by 
the  earl,  Sidney  subsequently  writing  from  Augs- 
burgh,  explains  : — 

"  That  which  I  am  reported  to  have  written  in  the 
book  at  Copenhagen,  is  true  ;♦  and  having  never  heard 
that  any  sort  of  men  were  so  worthy  the  objects  of 

7* 


154:  ALGEKNOK   SIDNEY. 

enmity  as  those  I  mentioned,  /  did  never  in  the  leasts 
scruple  avowing'  myself  to  be  an  enemy  unto  them.'''' 

As  to  his  reported  remark  to  the  minister  in  relation 
to  the  execution  of  the  king  : — 

*'  I  do  not  know  that  he  ever  asked  me  any  such 
question.  If  he  had,  I  should  have  given  him  such 
an  answer  as  his  folly  and  ill-manners  would  have 
deserved ;  but  that  which  is  reported  is  not  in  my 
style ;  I  never  said  it.  Yet,  that  your  lordship 
may  not  think  I  say  this  in  compliance  with  the  time, 
I  do  avow,  that  since  I  came  into  Denmark  I  have 
many  times  so  justified  that  act,  as  people  did  be- 
lieve I  had  a  hand  in  it ;  and  never  did  disavow  it, 
unless  it  were  to  the  king  of  Sweden  and  Grrand 
Mattre  of  Denmark,  who  asked  me  privately." 

In  this  letter  Sidney  mentions  his  having  seen  the 
act  of  indemnity.  He  expected,  he  said,  to  have  been 
excepted  by  this  act  from  pardon,  especially  when  he 
heard  how  Yane  and  Hazelrig  were  dealt  with.  He 
hoped  as  little  favor  from  the  king  as  any  man  in 
England.  But  although,  he  remarks,  there  was  not 
a  clause  in  the  act  of  indemnity  which  could  trouble 
him,  he  did  not  value  its  protection  a  straw. 

That  Sidney  thoroughly  understood  the  cause  of 
the  animosity  of  the  king  and  court  against  him,  and 
knew  precisely  upon  what  terms  of  abject  and  unqual- 
ified submission  his  pardon  might  be  obtained,  is  evi- 
dent from  his  next  letter  dated  at  Augsburgh,  on  the 
26th  of  September.     In  it  he  says  : — 

*^  The  cause  and  root  of  all  the  bitterness  against 


CHAPTER  m.  165 

me,  is  from  my  stiff  adherence  to  the  party  they 
hate.  I  do  not  wonder  at  it ;  the  reason  is  suffi- 
cient, but  that  which  the  king  cannot  avow  with- 
out contradicting  the  very  grounds  upon  which  he 
doth  promise  to  govern." 

But  the  same  letter  discloses  more  fully  than  ever, 
his  iron  will,  and  his  unconquerable  resolution.  He 
is  determined  never  to  sacrifice  a  principle,  never  to 
renounce  an  opinion,  never,  in  short,  to  yield  up  his 
independence  of  thought,  to  confess  his  past  life  a 
falsehood,  or,  with  a  pusillanimous  spirit,  seek  for 
pardon  at  the  foot  of  a  throne  he  scorns  and  despises. 
He  does  believe,  he  says,  that  his  peace  may  be  made, 
but  not  by  the  means  proposed. 

*'  The  king  doth  not  give  any  testimony  of  desiring 
to  destroy  all  that  were  against  him,  but  he  will  have 
all  to  submit^  to  recant,  to  renounce,  and  ask  pardon. 
I  find  this  and  other  things  are  expected  from  me.  1 
can  do  the  first,  cheerfully  and  willingly,  as  he  is 
acknowledged  by  the  Parliament ;  nothing"  of  the 
others?"^ 

And  thus  Sidney  submitted  to  exile.  *'  These 
reasons,"  he  says,  "have  persuaded  me  to  content 
myself  with  a  temporary  exile  as  the  least  evil 
that  is  within  my  power  of  choosing."  And  never 
did  Algernon  Sidney  prove  recreant  to  the  rule 
he  laid  down  in  this  spirited  and  noble  letter.  Years 
after,  though  he  submitted  to  the  ruling  powers,  and 
returned  to  his  native  country,  as  he  at  this  time  de- 
clared himself  willing  to  do,  yet  he  did  not  recant, 


156  ALGEENON   SIDNEY. 

renounce^  or  ask  the  pardon,  that  was  expected  of 
him.  To  -the  last,  he  maintained  that  stern  self- 
reliance,  and  independence  of  character,  which  never 
suffered  him  to  sacrifice  a  principle  to  an  expediency, 
and  which  led  him  to  prefer  a  life  of  exile  in  a  foreign 
land,  to  one  of  dishonor  and  humiliation  in  his  own 
country. 

In  his  apology,  he  says,  he  could  not  for  some  time 
comprehend  why  he  was  treated  with  such  asperity 
and  harshness  when  others  w^ho  had  been  his  compan- 
ions and  had  given  more  just  cause  of  hatred  against 
them  than  he  had  done,  were  received  into  favor  or 
suffered  to  live  quietly,  but  that  at  length  a  person 
who  well  understood  the  temper  of  the  court,  explained 
the  mystery  by  letting  him  know  that  ^^  he  was  diS' 
tinguished  from  the  rest,  because  it  was  known  that 
he  could  not  he  corruptedP     ' 

The  conduct  of  the  king's  government  at  the  resto- 
ration in  the  trial  of  the  regioides  and  others,  has 
already  been  alluded  to  in  the  sketches  of  Sidney's 
cotemporaries  and  is  of  itself  sufficient  to"  show  that 
it  was  not  so  much  the  punishment  of  past  offences 
which  was  aimed  at,  as  of  present  political  opinions. 
Some  of  these  trials  are  among  the  most  disgraceful 
proceedings  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of  English  crim- 
inal jurisprudence.  A.mong  these,  the  execution  of 
Scrope,  one  of  the  king's  judges,  and  of  Sir  Henry  - 
Vane,  have  a  precedence  of  infamy,  because  of  their 
being  in  direct  violation  of  the  solemn  pledge  of  the 
government.     Scrope   had   come   in  upon  the   king's 


CHAPTEK  IV.  157 

proclamation  of  pardon  to  such  of  the  regicides  as 
should  surrender  themselves  within  fourteen  days. 
In  the  very  face  of  this  solemn  guaranty,  he  was  tried, 
condemned  and  executed,  because,  in  private  conver- 
sation he  had  not  acknowledged  that  he  was  con^ 
vinced  of  his  guilt  in  condemning  the  king.  The 
case  of  Yane  was,  if  possible,  still  more  infamously 
unjust.  With  Lambert  and  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrigge, 
he  had  been  excepted  out  of  the  act  of  pardon,  but 
only  on  the  solemn  pledge  of  the  king  to  the  House  of 
Commons  that  his  life  should  be  spared.  This  pledge 
with  Lambert  and  Hazelrigge  was  kept.  They  were 
both  penitent  and  entirely  submissive.  Hazelrigge, 
in  particular,  before  the  king's  return,  had  bargained 
with  General  Monk,  for  his  life  and  estate,  by  surren- 
dering his  command.  The  lives  of  these  two  were 
therefore  spared,  and  they  were  condemned  to  impris- 
onment. But  Vane  stood  fast  to  his  principles,  and 
with  indomitable  courage  and  firmness,  defended  him- 
self on  his  trial.  It  was  the  pleasure  of  the  king  and 
his  chancellor  that  Vane  should  die,  notwithstanding 
the  royal  word  had  passed  to  the  contrary  ;  and  to  the 
disgrace  of  the  nation  he  was  condemned  by  an  Eng- 
lish court,  on  the  verdict  of  an  English  jury,  and 
died  on  the  scaffold.  His  devotion  to  the  *'  old  cause," 
his  opinions  and  principles,  not  his  offences,  consti- 
tuted the  crime  for  which  he  was  condemned. 

Mr.  Hume  has  glossed  over  this  part  of  Charles's 
administration,  and  with  an  evident  bias  in  favor  of 
the  crown,  which  even  his  air  of  dignified  impartiality 


158  ALGEKNON   SIDNEY. 

cannot  conceal,  would  make  these  executions  appear 
to  be  the  just  and  merited  punishment  of  past  treason, 
and  even  from  their  small  number,  distinguished  not 
only  for  their  justice,  but  for  what  he  calls  an  "  unex- 
ampled lenity."  He  mentions  the  names  of  the  six  of 
the  king's  judges  thus  dealt  with — Harrison,  Scot, 
Carew,  Clement,  Jones,  and  Scrope  ;  the  rest  he  says, 
*'  byan  unexampled  lenity  were  reprieved,  and  they  were 
dispersed  into  several  prisons."  Of  these  judges,  nine- 
teen had  surrendered  themselves  on  the  king's  procla- 
mation, relying  on  the  promised  pardon ;  thp  remainder, 
including  all  who  were  executed,  except  Scrope,  had 
been  captured  in  their  -flight.  It  is  true,  Hume  does 
not  undertake  to  justify  the  executions  of  Scrope  and 
Vane  ;  neither  on  the  other  hand,  does  he  condemn 
them.  As  for  the  rest,  including  the  enthusiast,  Hugh 
Peters,  and  Coke  the  lawyer,  who  appeared  for  the  peo- 
ple on  the  king's  [trial,  we  are  given  to  understand 
their  deaths  were  the  deserved  reward  of  past  crimes. 
Such  historical  opinions,  under  the  sanction  of  Hume's 
authority,  have  long  passed  current  in  our  country  as 
well  as  in  England  ;  but  the  time  has  Qome  when  they 
ought  at  least  to  be  doubted,  if  not  repudiated.  The 
same  argument  would  justify  the  execution  of  every 
man  who  had  sided  with  the  Parliament  during  the 
civil  war.  The  head  of  Monk  should  have  rolled  from 
the  scaffold,  and  the  infamous  Ashley  Cooper  should 
have  incurred  the  still  more  severe  sentence  which  the 
common  law  pronounced  in  cases  of  high  treason. 
According  to  the  same  argument,  it  was  through  the 


CHAPTER   IV.  159 

magnanimity  and  mercy,  not  the  justice  of  the  king, 
that  Milton  was  spared,  and  a  grateful  posterity  is 
indebted  alone  to  the  *'  unexampled  lenity"  of  Charles 
Stuart  for  the  Paradise  Lost.  If  the  theory  be  true, 
that  these  executions  were  not  a  bloody  vengeance,  in- 
flicted for  present  opinions  as  well  as  past  offences, 
but  just,  and  discriminating,  and  necessary  punish- 
ments, why  should  Lambert  and  Hazelrigge  have  re- 
ceived more  favor  than  Vane,  or  why  should  the  case 
of  Marten  have  been  made  to  differ  from  those  of  Har- 
rison and  Scot  ?  Lambert  was  no  less  guilty  than 
Vane,  but  he  was  penitent,  and  his  life  was  spared ; 
while  Vane  faced  his  judges  with  intrepidity,  boldly 
justified  his  conduct,  recanted  no  opinion  of  his  life, 
and  was  sent  to  the  block.  Marten  upon  his  trial,  as 
we  have  seen,  did  not  exhibit  the  same  bold  and  daunt- 
less front,  and  though  equally  guilty,  his  punishment 
was  commuted  to  imprisonment.     Harrison*  and  Scot 

*  Hume  sneers  at  the  conduct  of  Harrison  upon  his  trial,  and  asks — 
**  Can  any  one  without  concern  for  human  blindness  and  ignorance,  con- 
sider the  demeanor  of  General  Harrison  who  was  first  brought  to  his 
trial?" 

For  one,  we  doubt  if  any  can  arise  from  perusing  Mr.  Hume's  own 
account  of  his  demeanor  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  with  other  senti- 
ments than  respect  for  Harrison's  sincerity  and  admiration  of  his  forti- 
tude and  intrepidity.    The  account  is  as  follows : 

"  With  great  courage  and  elevation  of  sentiment,  he  told  the  court 
that  the  pretended  crime  of  which  he  stood  accused,  was  not  a  deed  per^ 
formed  in  a  corner ;  the  sound  of  it  had  gone  forth  to  most  nations ;  and 
in  the  singular  and  marvellous  account  of  it  had  chiefly  appeared  the 
sovereign  power  of  Heaven ;  that  he  himself,  agitated  by  doubts,  iad 
often,  with  passionate  tears^  offered  up  his  addresses  to  the  Divine  Ma- 
jesty, and  earnestly  sought  for  light  and  conviction :  he  had  still  received 


160  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

did  not  flincli  from  their  principles,  or  quail  before  their 
judges.  They  neither  asked  nor  expected,  perhaps  did 
not  desire  mercy,  anS.  Harrison  and  Scot  were  con- 
demned to  die. 

This  digression  will  serve  to  show  more  clearly  the 
position  of  Sidney  with  respect  to  the  restored  govern- 
ment, and  the  secret  of  the  vindictive  persecution 
which  subsequently  pursued  him.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  he  was  not  one  of  the  king's  judges,  or  in 
any   way   connected   with  his   death.     He   was  not 

assurancss  of  a  heavenly  sanction,  and  returned  from  those  devout  sup- 
plications with  more  serene  tranquillity  and  satisfaction ;  that  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  were,  in  the  eyes  of  their  Creator,  less  than  a  drop 
of  water  in  the  bucket,  nor  were  their  erroneous  judgments  aught 
but  darkness,  compared  with  divine  illuminations ;  that  these  frequent 
illapses  of  the  D  ivine  Spirit,  he  could  not  suspect  to  be  interested  illu- 
sions, since  he  was  conscious  that  for  no  temporal  advantage  would  he 
offer  injury  to  the  poorest  man  or  woman  that  trod  upon  the  earth ; 
that  all  the  allurements  of  ambition,  all  the  terrors  of  imprisonment, 
had  not  been  able,  during  the  usurpation  of  Cromwell,  to  shake  his 
steady  resolution,  or  bend  him  to  a  compliance  with  that  deceitful  tyrant, 
and  when  invited  by  him  to  sit  on  the  right  hand  of  the  throne,  when 
offered  riches,  and  splendor,  and  dominion,  he  had  disdainfully  rejected 
all  temptations  ;  and  neglecting  the  tears  of  his  friends  and  family,  had 
still,  through  every  danger,  held  fast  his  principles  and  his  integrity." 

Harrison  was,  doubtless,  not  only  a  fanatic,  but  the  wildest  of  vision- 
aries in  his  views  of  government ;  yet,  no  more  earnest  or  sincere  man 
lived  in  those  times.  He  opposed  the  usurpation  of  Cromwell,  but  he 
did  not  share  the  enlightened  opinions  of  Vane  and  Sidney.  He  was  one 
of  those  zealots  who  expected  the  coming  of  the  fifth  monarchy,  the 
reign  of  the  saints  upon  earth.  In  the  novel  of  Woodstock,  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  M'ith  inimitable  skill,  laying  hold  of  these  striking  traits  in  the 
character  of  this  distinguished  soldier,  has  produced  a  picture,  which, 
though  exaggerated,  and  too  highly  colored,  is  yet,  like  all  the  creations 
of  his  master  hand,  easily  mistaken  for  the  original. 


CHAPTER  ly.  161 

excepted  by  name  out  of  the  general  act  of  pardon,  and 
therefore  did  not  come  literally  within  the  law,  and 
was  not  justly  liable  to  any  prosecution  for  his  past 
conduct.  Yet  his  father  and  his  friends  advised  him, 
and  doubtless  with  truth,  that  his  return  to  England 
would  be  perilous.  The  act  of  amnesty,  under  a 
capricious  and  tyrannical  government,  so  easily 
violated  in  other  cases,  would  have  been  no  protection 
unless  at  such  a  sacrifice  of  principle  and  indepen- 
dence as  they  well  knew  a  spirit  like  Sidney's  could 
never  brook.  So  too  he  himself  viewed  it,  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  his 
father,  written  from  Rome  on  the  19th  of  November, 
1660. 

"  I  think  the  counsel  given  me  by  all  my  friends  to 
keep  out  of  England  for  a  while,  doth  too  clearly 
appear  to  have  been  good  by  the  usage  which  my 
companions  have  already  received,  and  perhaps  will 
be  yet  further  verified  by  what  they  will  find.  Noth- 
ing doth  seem  more  certain  to  me  than  that  I  must 
either  have  procured  niy  safety  by  such  means  as  Sir 
Arthur  Hazelri^g'e  is  said  to  have  used,  or  run  the 
fortune  of  some  others  who  have  showed  themselves 
more  resolute.  I  hope  my  being  here  will,  in  a  short 
time,  show  that  the  place  was  not  ill-chosen,  and  that 
besides  the  liberty  and  quiet  which  is  generally  grant- 
ed to  all  persons  here,  I  may  be  admitted  into  that 
company  the  knowledge  of  which,  will  very  much 
recompense  my  journey.  I  \vas  extremely  unwilling 
to  stay  in  Hamburgh,  or  any  place  in  Germany,  find- 


162  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

ing  myself  too  apt  to  fall  into  too  deep  melanclioly  if 
I  have  neither  business  nor  company  to  divert  me, 
and  I  have  such  an  aversion  to  the  conversation  and 
entertainments  of  that  country,  that  if  T  stayed  in  it, 
I  must  have  lived  as  a  hermit,  though  in  a  populous 
city.  I  am  here,  well  enough  at  ease,  and  believe  I 
may  continue  so  ;  unless  somebody  from  the  court  of 
England  doth  think  it  worth  their  pains  to  disturb 
me,  I  see  nothing  likely  to  arise  here  to  trouble  me." 

Such,  then,  was  the  position  of  Sidney  ;  a  wan- 
derer and  an  exile,  though  not  in  terms  proscribed  by 
the  law.  The  fate  of  his  associates,  under  the  fraud- 
ulent promises  of  the  government,  admonished  him  of 
what  would  probably  be  his  own,  if  he  once  placed 
himself  within  the  power  of  his  enemies.  His  past 
conduct  he  knew  was  less  reprehensible  than  that  of 
many  who  had  risen  to  favor  at  home,  but  his  present 
opinions  he  also  knew  were  such  as  would  find  no 
favor  there.  He  had  been  no  less  guilty  than  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  if  such  actions  as  his  could  be  called 
guilt.  He  sympathized  fully  in  the  devoted  and 
noble  principles  of  that  great  republican  statesman, 
with  whom  he  had  been  on  terms  of  intimate  friend- 
ship. He  had  all  his  moral  courage,  and  fortitude, 
and  firmness  of  purpose.  This  was  well  known  at 
the  court  of  Charles,  and,  besides,  it  was  known  that 
Col.  Sidney  was  a  man  who  could  not  be  corrupted^ 
His  colleague.  Sir  Robert  Honey  wood,  had  returned 
from  Denmark  to  England,  and  the  king  had  been  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  admit  him  into  his  presence.     Some 


CHAPTER  IV.  163 

friends  of  Sidney  argued  well  for  him,  from  this 
reception  of  his  colleague,  and  even  pressed  him  to 
return  ;  intimating  a  prospect  of  his  being  employed 
in  the  service  of  the  government.  The  answer  of 
Sidney  is  strikingly  characteristic  of  his  lofty  and 
independent  spirit  ;  such  an  answer  as  is  worthy  the 
pen  of  the  man  who,  in  his  character  and  actions, 
strove  to  emulate  the  stern  virtues  and  heroic  con- 
stancy of  Brutus.  It  gives  a  correct  view  of  the  sen- 
timents he  then  entertained  toward  the  government  of 
England,  and  is  otherwise  of  peculiar  interest  as  open- 
ing to  us  a  clearer  and  broader  insight  into  his  char- 
acter : — 

"  Sir — I  am  sorry  I  cannot,  in  all  things,  conform  myself  to  the 
advices  of  my  friends.  If  theirs  had  any  joint  concernment  with 
mine,  I  should  willingly  submit  my  interest  to  theirs  ;  but  when  I 
alone  am  interested,  and  they  only  advice  me  to  come  over  as  soon 
as  the  act  of  indemnity  is  passed,  because  they  think  it  is  best  for 
me,  1  cannot  wholly  lay  aside  my  own  judgment  and  choice.  I 
confess  we  are  naturally  inclined  to  delight  in  our  own  country, 
and  I  have  a  particular  love  to  mine.  I  hope  I  have  given  some 
testimony  of  it.  I  think  that  being  exiled  from  it  is  a  great  evil, 
and  would  redeem  myself  from  it  with  the  loss  of  a  great  deal  of 
my  blood.  But  when  that  country  of  mine,  which  used  to  be  es- 
teemed a  paradise,  is  now  like  to  be  made  a  stage  of  injury ;  the 
liberty  which  we  hoped  to  establish  oppressed ;  luxury  and  lewd- 
ness set  up  in  its  height  instead  of  piety,  virtue,  sobriety  and  mo- 
desty, which  we  hoped  God,  by  our  hands,  would  have  introduced ; 
the  best  men  of  our  nation  made  a  prey  to  the  worst ;  the  Parlia- 
ment, court,  and  the  army  corrupted;  the  people  enslaved;  all 
things  vendible ;  no  man  safe  but  by  such  evil  and  infamous 
means  as  flattery  and  bribery ;  what  joy  can  I  have  in  my  own 
country  in  this  condition  7    Is  it  a  pleasure  to  see  that  all  1  love  in 


164:  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

the  world  is  sold  and  destroyed  ?  Shall  I  renounce  all  my  old 
principles,  learn  the  vile^  court  arts,  and  make  my'peace  by  bribing 
some  of  them?  Shall  their  corruption  and  vice  be  my  safety? 
Ah  !  no ;  better  is  a  life  among  strangers  than  in  my  own  country 
upon  such  conditions.  Whilst  I  live  I  will  endeavor  to  preserve 
my  liberty,  or  at  least  not  to  consent  to  the  destroying  of  it.  1  hope 
1  shall  die  in  the  same  principles  in  which  I  have  lived,  and  will  live 
no  longer  than  they  can  preserve  me.  I  have  in  my  life  been 
guilty  of  many  follies,  but,  as  I  think,  of  no  meanness.  I  will 
not  blot  and  defile  that  which  is  past,  by  endeavoring  to  provide  for 
the  future.  I  have  ever  had  in  my  mind^  that  when  God  should 
cast  me  into  such  a  condition  as  that  I  cannot  save  my  life,  but  by 
doing  an  indecent  thing,  he  shows  me  the  time  is  come  when  I  should 
resign  it.  When  I  cannot  live  in  my  own  country,  but  by  such 
means  as  are  worse  than  dying  in  it,  1  think  he  shows  me  I  ought 
to  keep  myself  out  of  it.  Let  them  please  themselves  with  mak- 
ing the  king  glorious,  who  think  a  whole  people  may  justly  be 
sacrificed  for  the  interest  and  pleasure  of  one  man  and  a  few  of  his 
followers ;  let  them  rejoice  in  their  subtlety,  who,  by  betraying  the 
former  powers,  have  gained  the  favor  of  this,  and  not  only  pre- 
served, but  advanced  themselves  in  these  dangerous  changes.* 
Nevertheless,  perhaps,  they  may  find  the  king's  glory  is  their 
shame,  his  plenty  the  people's  misery,  and  that  the  gaining  of  an 
office,  or  a  little  money,  is  a  poor  reward  for  destroying  a  nation,- 
which,  if  it  were  preserved  in  liberty  and  virtue,  would  truly  be  the 
most  glorious  in  the  world  ',  and  that  others  may  find  they  have  with 
much  pains  purchased  their  own  shame  and  misery,  a  dear  price 
paid  for  that  which  is  not  w^orth  keeping,  nor  the  life  that  is  ac- 
companied with  it.  The  honor  of  English  parliaments  has  ever 
been  in  making  the  nation  glorious  and  happy,  not  in  selling  and 
destroying  the  interests  of  it  to  gratify  the  lusts  of  one  man. 
*'  Miserable  nation !  that  from   so   great  a  height   of  glory  is 

*  Reference  is  here  undoubtedly  made  to  Ashley  Cooper,  now  Earl  of 
Shaftesbury,  and  other  commonwealth's  men,  who,  like  him,  were  high 
in  favor  with  the  king.  Perhaps,  also,  he  means  his  old  friend,  General 
Monk,  then  Duke  of  Albemarle. 


CHAPTER  rv.  165 

fallen  into  the  most  despicable  condition  in  the  world,  of  having 
all  its  good  depending  upon  the  breadth  and  will  of  the  vilest  per- 
sons in  it !  Cheated  and  sold  by  them  they  trusted  !  infamous 
traffic,  equal  almost  in  guilt  to  that  of  Judas !  In  all  preceding 
ages  Parliaments  have  been  the  palaces  of  our  liberty,  the  sure 
defenders  of  the  oppressed ;  they  who  formerly  could  bridle  kings 
and  keep  the  balance  equal  between  them  and  the  people,  are  now 
become  instrun)ents  of  all  our  oppressions,  and  a  sword  in  his  hand 
to  destroy  us,  they  themselves,  led  by  a  few  interested  persons 
who  are  willing  to  buy  offices  for  themselves  by  the  misery  of  the 
whole  nation,  and  the  blood  of  the  most  worthy  and  eminent  per- 
sons in  it.  Detestable  bribes,  worse  than  the  oaths  now  in 
fashion  in  this  mercenary  court !  I  mean  to  owe  neither  my  life 
nor  liberty  to  any  such  means.  When  the  innocence  of  my 
life  and  actions  will  not  protect  me,  I  will  stay  away  until  the 
storm  be  passed  over.  In  short  where  Vane,  Lambert,  Hazelrigge 
cannot  live  in  safety,  I  cannot  live  at  all.  If  I  had  been  in  England, 
I  should  have  expected  a  lodgment  with  them ;  or  though  they 
maybe  the  first,  as  being  more  eminent  than  I,  I  must  expect  to  fol- 
low their  example  in  suffering,  as  I  have  been  their  companion  in 
acting.  I  am  most  in  amaze  at  the  mistaken  informations  that 
were  sent  to  me  by  my  friends,  full  of  expectations  of  favors  and 
employments.  Who  can  think  that  they  who  imprison  them  would 
employ  me,  or  suffer  me  to  live  when  they  are  put  to  death? 
If  I  might  live  and  be  employed,  can  it  be  expected  that  I  should 
serve  a  government  that  seeks  such  detestable  ways  of  establish- 
ing itself  1  Ah  !  no ;  I  have  not  learnt  to  make  my  own  peace 
by  persecuting  and  betraying  ray  brethren  more  eminent  and  wor- 
thy than  myself.  I  must  live  by  just  means,  and  serve  to  just 
ends,  or  not  at  all.  After  such  a  manifestation  of  the  ways  by 
which  it  is  intended  the  king  shall  govern,  I  should  have  re- 
nounced any  place  of  favor  into  which  the  kindness  and  industry 
of  my  friends  might  have  advanced  me,  when  I  found  those  that 
were  better  than  I  were,  only  fit  to  be  destroyed.  I  had  formerjy 
some  jealousies  j   the  fraudulent  proclamation  for  indemnity  in- 


166  ALGERNON  SmNET. 

creased  them ;  the  imprisoning  of  those  three  men,  and  turning 
out  of  all  the  officers  of  the  army,  contrary  to  promise,  confirmed 
my  resolution  not  to  return.  To  conclude,  the  tide  is  not  to  be 
diverted,  nor  the  oppressed  delivered;  but  God  in  his  time  will 
have  mercy  on  his  people.  He  will  save  and  defend  them,  and 
avenge  the  blood  of  those  who  shall  now  perish,  upon  the  heads 
of  those  who,  in  their  pride,  think  nothing  is  able  to  oppose  them. 
'Happy  are  those  whom  God  shall  make  instrument^  of  his  justice 
in  so  blessed  a  work  !  Jf  I  can  live  to  see  that  day.  I  shall  be  ripe 
for  the  grave,  and  able  to  say  with  joy,  '•Lord  now  lettest  thou  thy 
servant  depart  in  peace?  Farewell.  My  thoughts  as  to  king  and 
state  depending  upon  their  actions,  no  man  shall  be  a  more  faith- 
ful servant  to  him  than  I,  if  he  make  the  good  and  prosperity  of 
his  people  his  glory;  none  more  his  enemy  if  he  dothe  the  contrary. 
To  my  particular  friends  I  shall  be  constant  in  all  occasions,  and 
to  you  a  most  affectionate  servant." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  make  the  least  apology  for 
the  introduction  of  this  admirable  letter,  long  as  it  is, 
in  this  place  entire.  It  opens  to  us  the  innermost 
thoughts  of  Sidney,  and  gives  us  a  truer  insight  into 
his  character  than  any  narrative  of  his  actions  that 
could  be  related.  The  reader  will  not  fail  to  be 
struck  with  the  singleness  of  purpose,  and  the  deter- 
mined energy  which  is  breathed  in  every  line  of  it. 
Sidney  had  adopted  his  political  principles  with  delib- 
eration, and  with  the  honest  sincerity  of  a  thorough 
conviction  of  their  truth.  Not  for  an  instant  did  he 
temporise  with  them.  The  thought  of  the  possibility 
of  change  of  these  principles  does  not  seem  to  have 
occurred  to  him  ;  between  their  sacrifice,  and  banish- 
riient,  he  did  not  suffer  himself  a  moment  to  hesitate. 
This  letter  is  without  a  date  ;  it  is  uncertain  when  it 


CHAPTER  IV.  167 

was  written.  From  the  evidence  it  bears  upon  its 
face,  we  may  infer  some  time  after  the  act  of  indemni- 
ty, so  called,  was  passed  by  the  Parliament,  and  before 
the  trial  of  Vane  and  others.  His  views  upon  taking 
employment  under  the  government,  it  will  be  observ- 
ed, are  entirely  changed.  In  June,  1660,  as  we  have 
seen,  he  wrote  to  his  father,  hinting  that  he  would  be 
willing  to  serve  in  Ireland  ; — this  was  before  Charles 
II.  had  so  cruelly  deceived  the  hopes  of  the  nation. 
Now,  however,  he  says,  he  should  "  have  renounced 
any  place  or  favor,"  into  which  he  might  have  been 
advanced,  after  such  **  a  manifestation  of  the  ways  by 
which  it  is  intended  the  king  shall  govern."  The 
letter  is  further  interesting:  as  containinor  his  own 
reasons  for  remaining  out  of  England.  He  formerly 
had  "  some  jealousies"  (suspicions)  of  the  good  faith 
of  the  king,  in  his  declaration  at  Breda,  proclaiming  a 
general  amnesty.  These  suspicions  were  increased  by 
*'  the  fraudulent  proclamation  for  indemnity,"  by  im- 
prisoning *'  those  three  men,"  (Vane,  Lambert,  and 
Hazelrigge,)  and  '*  turning  out  all  the  officers  of  the 
army,  contrary  to  promise!''^  From  these  indications 
of  bad  faith,  on  the  part  of  the  king  and  Parliament, 
towards  others,  Sidney  judged  rightly,  that  though  he 
himself  was  not  excepted  out  of  the  act  of  pardon,  by 
name,  yet  there  was  no  safety  in  England  for  him  or 
protection  from  the  wrath  of  his  bitter  and  revengeful 
enemies. 


CHAPTEK  V. 

Sidney  at  Hamburgh — Interview  with  Queen  Christina — Travels 
through  Europe — Arrives  at  Rome — His  residence  there  and  his 
description  of  it — Various  letters  from  Rome — Cardinal  Pellavicini — 
Sidney's  pecuniary  embarrasments  in  Italy — His  despondency  of 
mind — Letters  to  his  father — He  removes  to  Frascati. — His  resi- 
dence at  the  villa  of  Belvidere — His  letters  from  that  place — Se- 
clusion of  Sidney  from  the  world — His  employments  and  studies  at 
this  period,  and  his  account  of  them — Attempts  of  some  English 
emissaries  to  assassinate  him — He  leaves  Italy — His  further  travels 
in  Europe — Goes  to  Flanders — His  visit  to  Ludlow — Attempts  to  enter 
into  some  foreign  service,  but  is  thwarted  by  government — War  be- 
tween England  and  Holland  in  1665 — Sidney  at  the  Hague — Counsels 
an  invasion  of  England — Repairs  to  France — Views  of  that  govern- 
ment— Its  final  abandonment  of  the  exiles — Retires  to  an  obscure 
residence  in  the  south  of  France — Anecdote — Causes  of,  and  circum- 
stances attending  his  return — Erroneous  views  of  Hume  respecting  it 
— Sidney  returns  to  England — Death  of  his  father. . 

In  July,  1660,  Sidney  having  finished  his  mission, 
took  his  leave  of  the  Capital  of  Denmark,  for  Ham- 
burgh, where  he  awaited  further  orders  from  his 
father.  Here  he  had  several  interviews  with  the  cele- 
brated and  eccentric  Christina,  Q,ueeii  of  Sweden, 
who  had  some  years  before  resigned  her  crown.    From 


CHAPTEK   V.  169 

Hamburgh,  he  travelled  through  a  portion  of  Holland 
and  Germany,  and  the  following  month  wo  find  him, 
by  the  date  of  a  long  letter,  written  to  his  father,  in 
Fiankfort  on  "the  Main.  The  Earl  of  Leicester  had 
advised  him  not  to  go  to  Italy  for  tlie  present,  but  to 
remain  at  Hamburgh.  Yet  Sidney,  with  his  charac- 
teristic independence  of  disposition,  had  resolved  other- 
wise, and  accordingly  we  find  him,  in  November  of 
the  same  year,  at  Rome. 

An  extract  from  his  first  letter  from  Rome  has 
already  been  given,  in  which  he  informs  his  father  of 
his  arrival  there,  and  apologizes  for  neglecting  the  pa- 
ternal advice.  He  found  himself  at  Hamburgh  "  too 
apt  to  fall  too  deep  into  melancholy,"  &;c.  In  short,  he 
was  uncomfortable  at  Hamburgh,  or  at  any  place  in 
Grermany,  and  he  resolved  to  visit  the  imperial  city, 
now  that  all  present  hopes  of  his  return  to  England 
were  abandoned.  He  remained  at  Rome  during  the 
winter,  and  for  some  time  after  travelled  in  other 
parts  of  Italy.  Various  letters  have  been  preserved  in 
the  collection  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  writ- 
ten during  this  period,  some  of  them  dated  at  Rome, 
others  at  Frascati. 

His  manner  of  life  in  Italy  was  simple,  retired,  and 
unobtrusive.  He  neither  courted  nor  shunned  obser- 
vation. He  did  not  seek  notoriety,  but  yet  as  a  noble 
and  distinguished  stranger,  every  access  to  the  society 
of  all  in  Rome,  who  were  remarkable  for  learning,  or 
talents,  were  open  to  him.  He  became  acquainted 
with  many  of  the  distinguished  cardinal?  of  that  city  ; 
*    8 


170  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

"some  of  them,"  he  says,  "the  most  extraordinary 
persons  I  ever  met  with,  others  equal  with  the  rest 
of  the  world.  "With  some,  I  pretend  only  the  per- 
formance of  a  civility  and  desire  only  a  IHtle  know- 
ledge of  them ;  with  others,  I  seek  a  straighter  con- 
versation, and  by  frequent  visits  endeavor  to  gain  it.'' 
In  a  long  letter  to  the  earl,  dated  from  Rome,  he 
sketches  the  characters  of  the  twelve  principal  cardi- 
nals, in  a  manner,  as  he  says,  that  may  be  relied  on 
for  truth,  "  without  any  bias."  The  reader  may  be 
curious  to  know  how  close  an  observer  of  character 
Sidney  was,  and  with  what  degree  of  fidelity  he  traced 
it ;  we  therefore  subjoin  one  of  these  sketches  of  a  very 
distinguished  and  learned  man  of  that  day  in  Rome — 
the  Cardinal  Pellavicini : — 

"Italy  hath  not  a  finer  wit  than  Pellavicini,  nor  hath  any  con- 
vent a  monk  of  a  stricter  life.  It  is  said  that  sixpence  a  day  serves 
him  in  meat;  his  bread  and  wine  are  furnished  from  the  palace. 
Women  never  trouble  his  thoughts ;  they  are  unknown  to  him. 
He  hath  constantly  refused  great  church  livings;  and  being  lately 
pressed  by  the  pope,  \vho  favors  him  very  much,  to  receive  one  of 
great  value,  he  answered — '  Your  Holiness  can  add  nothing  to  the 
favor  of  giving  me  this  hat,  but  by  employing  me  in  such  things 
as  may  be  for  your  service,  and  bear  testimony  of  my  gratitude,  I 
want  nothing  else.'  He  makes  good  his  words,  receiving  not 
above  three  or  four  thousand  crowns  a  year  to  keep  up  the  state  of 
a  cardinal,  having  had  nothing  before  he  came  to  it.  He  labors 
incessantly  in  those  knotty  businesses  that  require  much  pains  and 
yield  no  profit.  This  humor  defends  him  from  having  rivals  in  his 
pretences.  He  hath  showed  it  to  be  possible  for  the  same  man  to 
be  excellent  in  the  Belle  Lettres  andjhe  most  aeep  and  abstruse 
sciences.  I  do  not  think  he  hath  so  well  joined  the  theo.y  and 
practice  of  business.     The  extreme  acuteness  of  his  wit,  renders 


I' 

CHAPTER  V.  171 

him  admirable  in  the  one,  and  fills  his  head  with  notions  too  nice 
and  high  for  the  other.  Besides  this  he  hath  lived  more  amon^ 
books  and  papers  than  men.  He  ever  aims  at  perfection,  and 
frames  ideas  in  his  fancy  not  always  proportionable  to  worldly 
business,  sometimes  forgetting  that  the  counsels  as"  well  as  the 
sermons  of  men  are  ever  defective,  and  that  in  human  affairs,  gov- 
ernors and  ministers  are  not  so  much  to  seek  what  is  exactly  good 
as  what  is  least  evil,  or  least  evil  of  those  things  which  he  hath 
power  to  accomplish.  He  is  most  meek  and  humble  in  his  beha- 
viour, easy  and  gentle  in  treating  of  his  own  concernments;  but 
in  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical  affairs,  his  zeal  renders  him  sharp 
and  violent.  These  qualities  show  him  to  be  an  excellent  cardi- 
nal, but  would  render  him  an  ill  pope,  at  least  in  the  opinion  of 
the  courtiers,  who  will  not  endure  to  be  overlooked  by  so  sharp  a 
sight  master,  nor  reformed  by  such  a  bitter  enemy  to  corruption 
and  looseness.  His  severity  beginning  with  himself,  it  is  not 
hoped  he  will  spare  others." 

The  residence  of  Sidney  in  Italy,  as  in  other  places 
during  his  long  exile,  and  his  wanderings  through 
Europe,  were  humiliated,  if  not  embittered,  by  straight- 
ened resources  and  pecuniary  difficulties.  The  Earl 
of  Leicester  does  not  appear  to  have  dealt  him  out 
from  his  ample  means  with  a  very  lavish  hand.  His 
own  fortune  was  almost  entirely  wasted  by  the  un- 
happy issue  of  the  revolution,  and,  with  the  exception 
of  what  he  might  realize  from  his  own  industry,  he 
looked  solely  to  the  pittance  he  received  from  his 
father,  to  support  those  decent  external  circumstances 
which  became  his  rank  and  name.  Fortunately,  he 
says,  living  was  cheap  in  Rome.  "  The  prices  of  all 
things  necessary  to  life  are  much  increased  since  I  was 
here  the  first  time,  but   temperance  is  in  fashion ; 


172  ALGEENON   SIDNET. 

everybody  lives  upon  little,  so  that  the  burden  is  not 
great  upon  strangers.  Five  shillings  a  day  serves  me 
and  two  men  very  wijll  in  meat,  drink,  and  firing." 

Notwithstanding  these  moderate  wants  of  Sidney, 
the  supplies  came  very  slowly.  Occasionally  his 
private  affairs  are  briefly  mentioned  in  his  letters  of 
this  period,  and  once  or  twice  he  even  uses  the  lan- 
guage of  reproach  at  the  parsimony  of  his  relative. 
Thus  in  his  letter  to  his  father  from  Rome,  of  Decem- 
ber 29th,  1660,  he  says  :— 

"  If  there  be  no  dtfference  in  living  but  he  that  hath  bread  hath 
enough,  I  have  some  hopes  of  finding  a  provision  for  a  longer  time 
than  I  mentioned.  If  there  be  no  reason  for  allowing  me  any  as- 
sistance out  of  the  family,  as  long  as  there  is  a  possibility  of  my 
living  without  it,  I  have  discharged  you.  If  those  helps  are  only 
to  be  given  to  those  who  have  neither  spirit  nor  industry  in  any- 
thing to  help  themselves,  I  pretend  to  deserve  none.  Or  if  sup- 
plies are  only  the  rewards  of  importunity,  or  given  to  avoid  the 
trouble  of  being  solicited,  I  think  I  shall  for  ever  free  you  from  that 
reason.  And  as  I  have /or  some  years  run  through  greater  straits 
than  I  believe  any  man  of  my  condition  hath  done  in  England  since 
I  was  6orn  without  ever  complaining,  I  shall  with  silence  suffer 
what  fortune  soever  doth  remain  unto  me.  I  confess  I  thought 
another  conclusion  m.ight  reasonably  have  been  made  upon  what 
I  have  said,  but  I  leave  that  to  your  lordship's  judgment  and  con- 
science. If  you  are  satisfied  with  yourself,  you  shall  not  receive 
any  trouble  from 

"  Your  lordship's  etc., 

"Alg.  Sidney." 

Another  letter,  dated  just  before  he  left  Rome,  May 
2d,  1661,  is  written  almost  in  a  tone  of  despondency. 
He  is  afflicted,  he  says,  with  one  of  his  ordinary  fits 


CHAPTER   V.  173 

of  the  headache  ;  and  is  evidently  in  the  lowest  possi- 
ble state  of  spirits,  so  much  so,  that  he  declares  his 
only  hope  is,  that  God  will  put  an  end  to  his  troubles 
or  his  life.  Some  of  the  heaviest  of  these  troubles 
appear  to  be  his  pecuniary  embarrassments,  and  these 
must  have  been  of  great  magnitude,  if  we  judge  from 
his  own  statement.  "  The  misfortunes  in  which  I 
was  fallen  by  the  destruction  of  our  party  did  not 
shake  me.  ,  The  cheats  and  thefts  of  servants  were 
too  ordinary  to  trouble  me.  I  suffered  my  mother's 
legacy  to  be  drawn  from  me  upon  which  I  might 
have  subsisted  a  good  while.  I  was  not  very  much 
surprised  to  find  myself  betrayed  and  robbed  of  all 
that  with  which  I  had  trusted  Lady  Strangford,  but 
I  confess  that  I  am  sorely  troubled  to  find  that  Sir  J. 
Temple  is  going  into  Ireland,"  &c.,  &o.  Sidney  then 
mentions  the  difficulties  he  had  heard  concerning 
certain  mortgages  and  real  estate,  and  adds:  **And 
by  all  these  means  together  I  find  myself  destitute 
of  all  help  at  home,  and  exposed  to  all  those  troub- 
les, inconveniences,  and  mischiefs  unto  which  they 
are  exposed  who  have  nothing  to  subsist  upon  in  a 
place  far  from  home,  where  no  assistance  can  pos- 
sibly be  expected,  and  xohere  I  am  knoion  to  be  a 
man  of  quality^  which  makes  all  low  and  mean  ways 
of  living  shameful  and  detestable."  To  a  proud  and 
sensitive  mind  like  that  of  Sidney  such  embarrass- 
ments must  have  been  galling  in  the  extreme,  and  we 
can  readily  appreciate  the  feeling  that  stung  him 
into  these  expressions  of  impatience  in  his  correspon- 


174  ALGERNOJSr   SIDNEY. 

dence  with  a  relative,  on  whose  kindness  and  assist- 
ance he  had  such  strong  claims. 

But  to  turn  to  more  agreeable  matters.  From 
Rome  he  went  to  Frascati,  where  we  find  him  court- 
ing solitude  and  seclusion — a  student  of  books  as  he 
had  been,  in  the  imperial  city,  a  student  of  men.  He 
had  fixed  his  residence  at  the  villa  of  Belvidere,  one 
of  the  finest  in  Italy,  a  short  distance  from  Frascati, 
from  whence  his  letters  are  dated.  A  nepjiew  of  the 
late  Pope,  the  Prince  of  Pamphili ;  had  given  him 
very  convenient  apartments  in  the  palace  with  the 
ufe  of  a  rare  library  and  beautiful  gardens.  Here 
Sidney  passed  his  time,  for  a  brief  season,  in  all  the 
elegant  tranquillity  of  a  refined  and  philosophic  mind.^ 

In  his  first  letter  to  his  father  from  Frascati,  under 
date  of  June  7th,  1661,  he  dwells  with  evident  satisfac- 
tion upon  the  comforts  of  his  new  residence,  and  also 
describes  his  studies  and  pursuits  : — 

''Whilst  everybody  at  Rome  is  panting  and  gasping  for  life  in 
the  heat,  which  they  say  this  year  is  much  greater  than  ordinary, 
I  enjoy  so  fresh  an  air  as  to  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  the  sun. 
Here  are  wells  and  fountains  in  the  greatest  perfection,  and  though 
my  natural  deh'ght  in  solitude  is  very  much  increased  this  year,  I 
cannot  desire  to  be  more  alone  than  I  am  and  hope  to  continue. 
My  conversation  is  with  birds,  trees,  and  books ;  in  these  last 
months  that  I  have  had  no  business  at  all,  I  have  applied  myself  to 
study  a  little  more  than  I  have  done  formerly  ]  and  though  one  who 
begins  at  my  age,  cannot  hope  to  make  any  considerable  progress 
that  way,  I  find  so  much  satisfaction  in  it,  that  for  the  future  I 
shall  very  unwillingly  (though  I  had  the  opportunity)  put  myself 

*Brief  Memoirs  by  Richard  Chase  Sidney. 


CHAPTEPw   V.  175 

into  any  way  of  living  that  shall  deprive  me  of  that  entertainment. 
Whatever  hath  been  formerly  the  object  of  my  thoughts  and  de- 
sires, I  have  now  intention  of  seeking  very  little  more  than  quiet- 
ness and  retirement." 

The  villa  of  Belvidere  of  which  Sidney  thus  speaks, 
was  half  a  mile  from  Frascati.  From  the  glowing 
descriptions  he  gives,  it  must  have  been  a  place  of  rare 
and  enchanting  beauty,  and  finely  adapted  to  that  life 
of  quiet  and  contemplative  retirement  which  he  was 
now  courting.  In  his  very  next  letter  to  his  father 
he  again  speaks  of  the  beauties  of  his  retreat,  and  the 
nature  of  his  present  pursuits  : — 

"Nature,  art,  and  treasure,  can  hardly  make  a  place  more  plea- 
6ant  than  this.  The  description  of  it  would  look  more  like  poetry 
than  truth.  A  Spanish  lady  coming  not  long  since  to  see  this 
house,  seated  in  a  large  plain,  out  of  the  middle  of  a  rock,  and  a 
river  brought  to  the  top  of  the  mountain,  ingeniously  desired  those 
that  were  present  not  to  pronounce  the  name  of  our  Saviour,  lest 
it  should  dissolve  this  beautiful  enchantment.  We  have  passed 
the  solstice,  and  I  have  not  yet  had  occasion  to  complain  of  heat, 
which  in  Rome  is  very  excessive,  and  hath  filled  the  town  with 
sickness,  especially  that  part  of  it  where  I  lived.  Here  is  what  I 
look  for,  health,  quiet,  and  solitude.  I  am  with  some  eagerness 
fallen  to  reading,  and  find  so  much  satisfaction  in  it,  that  though  I 
every  morning  see  the  sun  rise,  I  never  go  abroad  until  six  or  seven 
o'clock  at  night;  'yet  cannot  I  be  so  sure  of  my  temper  as  to  know 
how  long  this  manner  of  life  will  please  meP 

Sidney  then  speaks  of  the  hapless  condition  to 
which  he  is  reduced  by  the  late  misfortunes  which 
had  befallen  his  party,  and  his  country.  His  lan- 
guage, though  desponding,  still  gives  evidence  that  he 


176  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

possesses  the  same  firm  and  unbending  spirit  in  ad- 
versity :  , 

*'  I  cannot  but  rejoice  a  little  to  find  that  when  I  wander  as  a 
vagabond  through  the  world,  forsaken  of  my  friends,  poor,  and 
known  only  to  be  a  broken  limb  of  a  shipwrecked  faction,  I  yet 
find  humanity  and  civility  from  those  who  are  in  the  height  of  for- 
tune and  reputation.  But  I  do  also  well  know,  I  am  in  a  strange 
land,  how  far  those  civilities  do  extend,  and  that  they  are  too  airy 
to  feed  or  clothe  a  man.  I  cannot  so  unite  my  thoughts  unto  one 
object,  as  absolutely  to  forbid  the  memory  of  such  things  as  these 
are  to  enter  into  them;  but  I  go  as  far  as  I  can,  and  since  I  cannot 
forget  what  is  passed,  nor  be  absolutely  insensible  of  what  is  presentf 
T  defend  myself  reasonably  well  from  increasing  or  anticipating 
eiflls  by  foresight.  The  power  of  foreseeing  is  a  happy  q  uality 
unto  those  who  prosper,  and  can  ever  propose  to  themselves  some- 
thing of  greater  felicity  than  they  enjoy ;  but  a  most  desperate 
mischief  unto  them  who,  by  foreseeing  can  discover  nothing  that  is 
not  \Aorse  than  the  evils  they  do  already  feel.  He  that  is  naked, 
alone,  and  without  help  in  the  open  sea,  is  less  unhappy  in  the  night 
when  he  may  hope  the  land  is  near,  than  in  the  day  time  when  he 
sees  it  not,  and  that  there  is  no  posibility  of  safety. ^^ 

Sidney  was  now  living,  as  he  himself  expressed  it, 
*'  a  hermit  in  a  palace."  He  had  left  Rome,  (where 
his  virtues  and  noble  conduct  had  procured  him  the 
respect  and  friendship  of  the  most  distinguished  of 
the  nobility,  clergy,  and  learned  men  of  the  day,) 
"  to  avoid  the  necessity,"  as  he  says  in  the  letter 
above  quoted  from,  "  of  making  and  receiving  visits'' 
among  so  large  a  circle  of  acquaintances.  In  his 
'*  Apology"  he  states  one  of  his  reasons  for  making 
Rome  his  retreat ;  it  was  in  order  that  the  most 
malicious  of  his  enemies  should  not  pretend  that  he 


CHAPTER  V.  177 

practiced  anything  against  the  government,  since 
Rome  "was  certainly  an  ill  scene  to  act  anything 
that  was  displeasing  with  it."  But,  he  further  re- 
marks, he  soon  found  out  his  mistake,  and  that  "  no 
inoffensiveness  of  behavior  could  preserve  me  against 
the  malice  of  those  who  sought  to  destroy  me  ;  and 
was  defended  from  such  as  there  designed  to  assas* 
sinate  me  only  by  the  charity  of  strangers."  His 
change  of  residence  from  Rome  to  Frascati,  and  his 
withdrawal  into  a  profound  seclusion,  he  hoped  would 
be  attended  with  better  results,  and  that  if  not  en- 
tirely forgotten  at  home,  he  would  at  least  not  be 
molested  with  the  officious  notice  and  slanders  of 
those  who  desired  to  effect  his  ruin.  In  his  last  letter, 
dated  from  Frascati,  July  24th,  1661,  he  says  on  this 
subject : — 

*'  I  intend  this  half  burial  as  a  preparative  to  an 
entire  one,  and  shall  not  be  much  troubled  though  I 
find,  if  upon  the  knowledge  of  my  manner  of  life, 
they  who  the  last  year  at  Whitehall  did  exercise  their 
tongues  upon  me  as  a  very  unruly  headed  man,  do  so 
far  change  their  opinion  of  me  on  the  sudden  as  to 
believe  me  so  dull  and  lazy  as  to  be  fit  for  nothing. 
When  that  opinion  is  well  settled,  I  may  hope  to  Hve 
quietly  in  England,  and  then  shall  think  it  a  season- 
able time  to  return." 

But  many  years  were  destined  to  elapse  before 
such  an  opinion  was  formed  of  him  at  the  court 
of  Charles  11.  as  could  induce  the  government  to 
suffer  his  return.     The  sentiments  he  was  known  to 


1Y8  ALGERNON  SIDNET. 

entertain,  united  with  genius,  courage,  and  intre- 
pidity, made  him  a  man  who  could  not  be  the  friend, 
and  was  sure  to  prove  the  formidable  enemy  of  the 
government.  He  was  therefore  honored  with  un- 
ceasing hostility  and  persecution.  No  where  was  he 
safe.  Vengeance  was  forever  on  his  path,  and  the 
stealthy  step  of  the  assassin  continually  pursued  him. 
It  seems  well  established  that  the  government,  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  attempted  to  resort  to  the 
base  and  detestable  means  of  secret  assassination,  in 
order  to  get  rid  of  one  who  was  regarded  by  it  as  a 
dangerous  enemy.  Not  only  at  Eome,  but  also  in 
Flanders  and  Holland,  Sidney  says  in  his  "Apology," 
the  same  dangers  surrounded  him,  and  that  even 
when  he  withdrew  into  the  remotest  parts  of  Grermany, 
one  Andrew  White,  and  some  others  were  sent  to 
murder  him.  This  latter  circumstance  is  also  re- 
lated in  the  memoirs  of  Ludlow,  who  states  that  it 
was  in  the  year  1665,  upon  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war  between  England  and  the  United  Provinces. 
Col.  Sidney  was  then  at  Augsburgh,  and  ten  ruffians 
were  despatched  by  authority  of  the  king's  govern- 
ment to  assassinate  him  ;  it  is  added  that  they  might 
have  accomplished  their  infamous  purpose,  if  he  had 
not  before  their  arrival  retired  from  that  city  into 
Holland,  being  called  thither  on  some  matters  of 
business. 

How  long  Sidney  remained  in  his  retreat  at  the 
villa  of  Belvidere  is  not  known.  His  last  letter  from 
Frascati,  and  indeed  the  last  which  has  been  preserved, 


CHAPTER  V.  179 

written  from  Italy,  is  that  dated  July  24th,  1661.  In 
it  he  hints  an  intention  to  go  to  Naples  in  the  autumn, 
and  from  thence  to  Sicily  and  Malta,  to  pass  the 
winter  in  some  of  these  places,  returning  to  Rome  in 
the  spring.  This  journey  he  probably  undertook 
We  have,  however,  no  further  details  of  his  residence 
at  Rome  or  in  Italy  up  to  his  departure  in  1663,  and 
nothing  has  been  preserved  of  his  correspondence. 
A  manuscript  discourse  in  Italian,  written  or  tran- 
scribed by  him,  preserved  in  the  library  at  Penshurst, 
attests  his  intimate  knowledge  of  that  language.  It 
is  marked  by  the  Earl  of  Leicester  as  the  work  of  an 
unknown  author,  but  has  been  regarded  by  others  as 
the  production  of  Sidney,  whose  name  appeared  at  the 
end  in  a  distinguished  cypher.* 

The  care  of  his  private  affairs  called  him  from 
Italy  to  Flanders.  On  his  way  thither,  ho  visit- 
ed his  old  brother  in  arms,  Greneral  Ludlow,  and 
his  companions,  at  Yevay,  in  Switzerland.  The 
friendship  existing  between  Ludlow  and  Sidney  was 
cordial  and  sincere,  and  the  interview  must  have 
called  up  many,  interesting  reminiscences.  Ludlow 
was  one  of  the  regicides — a  sincere  republican,  and, 
even  by  the  admission  of  his  enemies,  an  honest  man 
He  had  escaped  the  vengeance  of  the  royalists  by 
timely  flight,  and  by  settling  in  a  country  then  be- 
yond the  influence  and  the  reach  of  the  English 
government.  He  was,  therefore,  able  to  live  openly 
and  with  comparative  safety,  while  G-ofle  and  Whaley 

'*  Meadley's  Memoirs 


180  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

were  hiding  themselves  like  hunted  beasts  of  prey 
in  the  caverns  of  New  England.  Ludlow  had  suf- 
fered with  constancy  and  fortitude  for  the  same 
glorious  cause  in  defence  of  which  Sidney  encoun- 
tered exile  and  banishment.  He  resigned  without  a 
murmur  a  princely  fortune,  and  country,  and  friends, 
rather  than  prove  recreant  to  the  republican  principles 
of  his  youth,  or,  by  surrendering  himself  upon  the 
king's  proclamation,  obtain  his  pardon  by  an  un- 
worthy recantation.  Nor  did  Ludlow  ever  recant  his 
republican  faith  ;  nor  did  he,  to  the  day  when  he  laid 
down  his  head  in  death,  an  old  man,  in  poverty  and 
exile,  ever  intimate  a  doubt  of  the  justice  of  the 
great  action  of  his  life — his  vote  in  the  condemnation 
of  the  king.  More  than  twenty  years  after  the 
period  of  Sidney's  visit,  when  the  unfortunate  rebel- 
lion in  which  Monmouth  fell  was  projected,  and  when 
Monmouth  himself  hesitated  to  head  the  rebels,  Lud- 
low was  sought  out  in  his  retreat  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Leman,  and  urged  to  take  the  command.  But 
age,  which  had  not  impaired  the  spirit  of  his  youth, 
had  paralyzed  his  limbs,  and  he  could  only  reply  that 
"  his  work  was  done ;  if  England  was  still  to  be 
saved,  she  must  be  saved  by  younger  men."^ 

The  visit  of  Sidney  to  Ludlow  is  a  striking  in- 
stance of  his  fearless  intrepidity  and  moral  courage. 
It  could  not  but  be  known  in  England  that  the  exile 
of  liberty  had  turned  aside  in  his  wanderings  to  visit 
the  outlawed  regicide,  and  to  renew  the  friendship 
*  Macaulay's  History  of  England. 


CHAPTEE  V.  181 

which  common  misfortune  had  but  served  to  cement ; 
and  the  intelligence  could  not  fail  to  furnish  new 
food  for  the  slanders  which  were  circulated  against 
him  at  Whitehall,  and  to  place  still  farther  off  the 
period  of  his  return  to  his  native  country.  Sidney, 
at  his  departure,  presented  Ludlow  a  pair  of  pistols 
of  Italian  workmanship,  as  a  token  of  his  friendship  ; 
and  proceeding  to  Berne,  rendered  some  good  offices 
to  the  exiles,  with  the  magistrates  of  that  place. 

Soon  after  this,  Sidney,  persecuted  on  every  side, 
and  almost  entirely  deprived  of  the  means  of  sub- 
sistance,  attempted  to  enter  into  some  foreign  em- 
ployment, and  with  this  view  undertook  to  make 
arrangement  to  serve  in  Hungary  as  a  volunteer.  He 
wrote  to  his  father  with  the  view  of  proposing  to  the 
English  government,  through  the  Earl  of  Sunderland, 
his  nephew,  to  engage  in  the  service  of  the  emperor 
a  body  of  troops  raised  from  among  his  old  associates. 
But  the  government  not  only  discountenanced  but 
thwarted  his  designs,  and  the  project  seems  to  have 
been  abandoned. 

In  1665,  war  again  broke  out  between  Holland  and 
England.  De  Witt  was  then  at  the  head  of  affairs 
in  the  Dutch  Republic  ;  and  his  liberal  sentiments, 
known  to  be  thoroughly  in  accordance  with  those  of 
the  English  republicans,  were  such  as  to  give  en- 
couragement to  the  exiles,  many  of  whom  looked 
forward  to  the  success  of  Holland  as  the  prelude  to 
the  restoration  of  the  Commonwealth.  Among  these 
was  Col.  Sidney,  who  repaired  to  the  Hague  with  the 


182  ALGEENON  SIDNET. 

view  of  urging  the  Dutch  government  to  attempt  the 
invasion  of  England — a  design  then,  doubtless,  pre- 
mature, but  which,  after  more  than  twenty  years  of 
misgovernment,  was  successfully  brought  about  by 
William  of  Orange.  De  "Witt,  however,  gave  little 
countenance  to  the  proposed  invasion.  He  doubted 
not  only  its  policy  but  its  practicability  ;  and  jealous 
of  the  liberties  and  prosperity  of  his  own  country,  he 
did  not  choose  to  hazard  these  by  any  such  enter- 
prize,  which,  however  it  might  enlist  his  sympathies, 
presented  so  doubtful  an  issue.  When  France  unit- 
ed with  the  States'  Greneral,  the  project  of  an  in- 
vasion was  renewed,  and  both  Sidney  and  Ludlow 
were  invited  to  Paris.  Ludlow,  however,  seems  to 
have  suspected  the  sincerity  of  the  proposal,  and  re- 
fused to  leave  his  retreat ;  but  Sidney,  after  a  confer- 
ence with  the  French  resident  at  Mentz,  repaired  to 
Paris,  where  he  submitted  to  the  court  his  proposals 
for  exciting  an  insurrection  in  England.  The  French 
government  offered  him  twenty  thousand  crowns, 
with  a  promise  of  all  necessary  assistance  when  there 
should  be  a  more  certain  prospect  of  success.  Sid- 
ney, considering  this  entirely  inadequate  to  the 
accomplishment  of  the  object  in  view,  declined  it ; 
and  here  the  negotiations  ended.  The  treaty  of 
Breda,  in  1667,  put  an  end  to  all  these  designs  ;  the 
cause  of  the  exiles  was  abandoned ;  Louis  XIV.  re- 
sorted to  diplomacy,  intrigue,  and  bribery,  to  main- 
tain his  ascendency  in  England,  and  the  hope  of  the 
restoration  of  the  Commonwealth  vanished  forever. 


CHAPTEB  T.  *  183 

Sidney  now  retired  into  the  south  of  France  and 
buried  himself  in  obscurity.  The  very  place  of  his 
retreat  was  unknown.  It  appears,  however,  that  he 
kept  up  an  occasional  correspondence  with  the  cele- 
brated diplomatist,  Sir  William  Temple,  son  of  his 
old  friend,  Sir  John  Temple,  who  resided  as  ambassa- 
dor at  the  Hague,  after  the  downfall  of  De  Witt  and 
the  accession  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  the  govern- 
ment. In  this  retirement,  where  he  remained  for 
nearly  ten  years,  it  is  supposed  that  he  completed,  if 
he  did  not  actually  digest,  and  write  the  whole  of  his 
celebrated  Discourses  on  Government.  Mr.  Mead  ley 
observes  that,  "  no  other  portion  of  his  life  afforded 
adequate  leisure  for  the  important  task,  as  his  work  is 
evidently  the  result  of  much  reading  and  reflection 
combined  with  a  very  accurate  knowledge  of  the  hu- 
man character  as  developed  by  the  practice  of  man- 
kind." He  occasionally,  too,  visited  Paris  where 
his  high  character  and  capacity  were  known  and 
respected  by  the  courtiers  of  Louis  XIV.  An  anecdote 
is  related  of  Sidney,  in  one  of  these  visits,  which  is 
strikingly  illustrative  of  his  spirit  and  moral  courage 
He  was  the  owner  of  a  fine  English  horse  with  which, 
one  day,  he  joined  a  chase  in  the  retinue  of  the  king. 
Observing  the  fine  movements  and  spirit  of  the  ani- 
mal, the  king  resolved  to  have  him,  and  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  Sidney  requesting  him  to  deliver  the  horse 
and  name  his  own  price,  of  course  not  anticipating  a 
refusal.  To  the  surprise  of  Louis,  the  English  exile 
declined   the  proposal ;   whereupon   the  king,   deter- 


184  ALGERNON  SIDI^Y. 

mining  to  take  no  denial,  gave  orders  to  tender  the 
money  and  seize  the  horse.  On  hearing  this,  Sidney- 
drew  a  pistol  and  shot  it,  saying,  "  that  his  horse  was 
born  a  free  creature,  had  served  a  free  man,  and 
should  not  be  mastered  by  a  king  of  slaves." 

The  period  of  Sidney's  exile   at  length  drew  to  a 
close.     After  an  absence  of  seventeen  years,  the  Earl 
of  Leicester,  now  having  reached  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-two,  and  every  day  rapidly  failing  in  health 
and  strength,  desired  once  more  before  he  died,  to  see 
his  favorite  son.     The  Earl  of  Sunderland   was  then 
an  influential  member  of  the  royal  councils.     Henry 
Saville,  the  younger  brother  to  the  Marquis  of  Hali- 
fax, v/as  ambassador  to  France.     By  their  joint  influ- 
ence, but  principally  by  that  of  Saville,  Sidney  ob- 
tained permission  to  return  to  England.     In  a  letter 
to   Saville,  dated  at  Paris,  November,  14th,  1682, — 
the  date  of  which,  as  published  in  the   collection  of 
his  letters,  is  evidently  a  mistake,   it   being  in  the 
year  1676   he  inquires  of  Saville  respecting  his  suc- 
cess in  the  "  business  you  were   pleased  to  speak  of," 
referring,  of  course,  to  the  negotiations  for  his  return. 
The  same  year,  Dec.  18th,  he  acknowledges  to  Saville 
the    receipt  of   three    letters.     Sidney    was    then    at 
Nerac,  and  in  these  letters  from  the  ambassador,  he 
was  informed  of  his  liberty  to  return  to  England.  His 
gratitude  to  the  friend  who  had   thus  served  him,  is 
sincere  and  frankly  expressed  : 

"  My  obligation  unto  you  is  the  same,  and  I  so  far 
acknowledge  it  to  be  the  greatest  that  I  have  in  a  long 


CHAPTER  V.  185 

time  received  from  any  man,  as  not  to  value  the  leave 
you  have  obtained  for  me  to  return  into  my  country 
after  so  lon^  an  absence,  at  a  lower  rate  than  the  sav- 
ing of  my  life.  You  having  proceeded  thus  far,  I  will 
without  any  scruple  put  myself  entirely  upon  the 
hinges  word^  and  desire  you  only  to  obtain  a  passport, 
signifying  it,  and  that  his  majesty  is  pleased  to  send 
for  me,  so  as  the  officers  of  the  ports  and  other  places 
may  not  stop  me,  as  they  will  be  apt  to  do  as  soon  as 
they  know  my  name,  if  I  have  not  that  for  my  pro- 
tection." 

In  the  same  letter,  after  stating  in  confidence  to 

his  friend  that  he  has  no  other  business  in  England, 
except  such  as  concerns  his  person  and  family,  he  de- 
clares his  intention,  if  the  king  is  not  satisfied  with 
his  remaining  there,  to  return  to  France  after  the  end 
of  three  months. 

That  this  was  Sidney's  intention,  is  also  evident 
from  a  letter  written  by  him,  after  his  return,  from 
Leicester  House,  London,  to  one  Benjamin  Furly,  a 
merchant  at  Rotterdam,  in  which  he  says : — 

"  I  can  give  you  no  other  account  of  my  return 
than  that  my  desire  of  being  and  rendering  some  ser- 
vice unto  my  old  father,  persuaded  me  to  ask  leave  to 
come  over.  And  living  in  a  world  subject  to  all  man- 
ner of  changes,  easily  received  a  grant  of  that  which  I 
could  not  formerly  have  obtained.  But  my  father 
being  dead  within  six  weeks  after  my  arrival,  I  have 
no  other  business  here  than  to  clear  some  small 
contests  that  are  grown  between  one  of  my  brothers 


186  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

and  me,  concerning  that  which  he  hath  left  me,  and 
if  it  please  God  to  give  success  unto  my  endeavors  in 
composing  them,  I  shall  have  nothing  relating  unto 
this  world,  so  much  at  heart  as  the  desire  of  returning 
from  hence,  without  one  thought  of  ever  retiring^ 
and  carrying  with  me  that  which  may  be  sufficient  to 
purchase  a  convenient  habitation  in  G-ascony,  not  far 
from  Bordeaux,  where  I  may  in  quiet  finish  those  days 
that  God  hath  appointed  for  me." 

It  has  been  represented  by  Hume,  and  some  other 
writers,  that  Col.  Sidney  asked  from  Charles  II.  a 
pardon^  and  that,  having  obtained.it,  he  treacher- 
ously acted  against  the  government.  But  the  charge 
is  utterly  untenable  ;  Sidney  neither  asked  nor  accept- 
ed a  pardon,  as  appears  manifest  from  the  letters  to 
Saville  and  Furly,  just  quoted  as  well  as  from  his  other 
letters  to  his  father,  and  his  known  independence  and 
firmness  of  character.  This  charge  was  made  against 
him,  after  his  trial  and  execution,  by  Dr.  Sprat,  who 
wrote  the  history  of  the  Rye-house  Plot,  by  command 
of  Charles  and  James,  and  was  rewarded  for  his  ser- 
vices by  being  soon  after  created  bishop  of  Rochester. 
Subsequent  writers  have  made  the  same  statement  on 
the  authority  of  Dr.  Sprat,  the  falsehood  of  which  is 
apparent  from  the  letters  already  alluded  to,  as  well 
as  from  the  fact  mentioned  by  a  friendly  biographer,* 
that  nothing  was  said  on  the  subject  at  his  trial  by 
Jeffreys,  or  the  other  law  officers  of  the  crown,  who 
would  undoubtedly  have  availed  themselves  of  the  cir- 
*  Fwichard  Chase  Sidney.    Brief  Mem.  of  Algernon  Sidney.  / 


CHAPTER   V.  187 

cumstance  to  have  inflaencecl  the  jury'^against  him. 
Nor  does  the  Duke  of  York,  in  his  letters  to  the  Prince 
of  Orange  in  1683,  take  any  notice  of  his  pardon. 
These  facts  seem  conclusively  to  refute  the  idea  that 
he  had  asked  or  received  any  pardon  from  the  govern- 
ment. 

Having  obtained  the  king's  passport,  and  relying, 
as  he  says,  *'  entirely  upon  the  king's  word" — a  pledge 
■which  in  Yane'scase  had  been  so  shamefully  violated 
Sidney  returned  to  England  in  the  Autumn  of  1667. 
His  father  died  soon  after  his  arrival,  and  on  the  13th 
of  November  of  the  same  year,  at  Penshurst,  he  gave 
a  discharge  to  the  Earl's  executors  for  the  legacy  be- 
queathed to  him,  amounting  only  to  five  thousand  one 
hundred  pounds.  His  return  into  France,  however, 
was  prevented  by  his  elder  brother,  Lord  Lisle,  now 
Earl  of  Leicester,  questioning  his  title  to  some  pro- 
perty, which  he  had  received  from  his  father.  This 
led  to  a  long  and  vexatious  suit  in  chancery,  which 
detained  him  in  England.  The  suit  terminated  favor- 
ably, and  his  claims  were  finally  established  ;  but  in 
the  meantime  Sidney  became  involved  in  that  unfor- 
tunate combination  of  public  events  which  finally  led 
him  to  the  scaffold. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Political  views  of  Sidney — His  opinion  of  the  danger  of  a  standing  army 
— Project  of  a  war  with  France — Opposition  of  Sidney — Corruption 
of  the  king — Sidney  charged  with  being  a  pensioner  of  France — The 
charge  examined  and  refuted — Character  of  Barillon,  and  Sidney's 
views  of  it — The  Popish  plot — Sidney's  opposition  to  Papacy — A 
new  Parliament— Sidney  a  candidate — Is  defeated  by  the  court — Bill 
excluding  the  Duke  of  York  from  the  throne — Passes  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  defeated  in  the  House  of  Lords — Sidney's  opinions  as 
to  the  succession — Treachery  of  the  king  with  the  new  council — Sid- 
ney's letter  to  Neville — A  new  Parliament  summoned — Sidney  a 
candidate  and  again  defeated — His  position  with  respect  to  the  court — 
Attempt  to  involve  him  in  a  conspiracy  of  the  non- conformists — The 
king's  opinion  of  Sidney — Fate  of  the  exclusion  bill — Dissolution  of 
Parliament,  and  spirited  conduct  of  the  Commons. 

Sidney's  continued  residence  in  England,  occasioned, 
as  we  have  seen,  by  the  suit  in  which  he  had  become 
so  unexpectedly  involved,  was  permitted  by  the 
government,  not  as  a  matter  of  favor  to  him,  but, 
most  probably,  out  of  consideration  to  his  connections 
and  friends,  such  as  Sunderland,  Halifax,  and  Sir 
William  Temple,  the  most  influential  and  ablest 
statesmen  in  the  councils  of  Charles  II.  He  did  not, 
however,  remain  long  in  his  native  country  before  the 


CHAPTER  VI.  189 

lively  interest  he  had  always  felt  in  its  public  affairs 
manifested  itself  in  open  and  decided  action.  Hume 
says  that  Sidney  joined  the  popular  party,  when  the 
factions  arising  from  the  Popish  plot  began  to  run 
high  ;  and  that,  full  of  those  ideas  of  liberty  which 
he  had  imbibed  from  the  great  examples  of  antiquity, 
he  was  even  willing  to  seek  a  second  time,  through 
all  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  for  his  adored  republic. 
The  statement  would  have  been  nearer  the  truth 
had  it  been  that  Sidney  always  belonged  to  the 
popular  party;  and  if  he  now  "joined  it,'*  in  the 
sense,  perhaps,  intended  by  the  historian,  it  was  not 
to  seek  a  republican  government,  through  all  the 
horrors  of  civil  war,  but  to  carry  out  consistently  and 
firmly  the  political  principles  which  his  whole  life 
illustrated. 

We  shall  assume  that  the  reader  is  familiar  with 
the  leading  features  of  the  political  history  of  this 
period,  and  will  not  attempt,  therefore,  to  do  more 
than  to  mention,  in  a  general  manner,  that  train  of 
public  events  connected  with  Sidney's  career,  which 
eventually  led  to  his  execution.  The  long  Parlia- 
ment which  Charles  II.  had  summoned,  composed 
principally  of  servile  and  devoted  royalists,  had  now 
been  in  existence  during  a  period  of  nearly  eighteen 
years.  The  inglorious  and  every  way  despicable  ad- 
ministration of  the  king,  had  brought  the  country 
into  disgrace  and  contempt.  A  greater  contrast  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  conceive  than  between  the  Eng- 
land under  the  rule  of  the  Protector,  and  that  same 


190  ALGEEKON   SYDNEY. 

England  under  the  government  of  Charles  II.,  at  one 
tinne  assisted  by  the  counsels  of  the  intolerant  Claren- 
don ;  at  another,  under  the  guidance  of  his  contempt- 
ible ^'  CabaiP  CharJes  was  known  to  be  a  pensioner 
of  Louis  XIY.,  receiving  that  monarch's  money  with- 
out scruple,  and  furthering  the  policy  of  Barillon,  the 
intriguing  minister  of  the  French  king.  But  besides 
the  effeminacy  and  shamefal  profligacy  of  the  king, 
and  his  truckling  subserviency  to  a  foreign  monarch, 
the  tendency  of  his  whole  policy,  so  far  as  it  could  be 
said  that  he  had  a  policy,  under  his  ministers,  par- 
ticularly the  Cabal,  and  the  Earl  of  Danby,  had  been 
to  enslave  his  subjects,  to  destroy  the  liberties  of  his 
country,  and  to  make  himself  absolute  master  of  his 
people. 

At  this  period,  when  the  Parliament  was  urging  the 
king  into  a  war  with  France,  a  favorite  design  of 
Charles'  seems  to  have  been  to  raise  and  keep  on  foot 
a  standing  army,  which  experience  has  always  shown 
to  be  the  most  formidable  instrument  of  tyrants. 
Sidney,  whose  knowledge  of  the  danger  of  a  standing 
army  in  Cromwell's  time,  had  given  him  just  vieWs 
on  this  subject,  earnestly  deprecated  this  projected 
war  with  France,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  to 
his  friends  that  it  was  "  a  juggle,  since  the  two  courts 
being  in  entire  confidence,  nothing  more  was  intended 
by  this  show  of  warfare  than  to  raise  an  army  and 
afterwards  to  keep  it  for  training  and  modelling 
beyond  sea,"  The  war,  however,  was  popular  in 
England  :  the  Parliament  voted  the  king  supplies,  and 


CHAPTER  V.  191 

in  a  few  weeks  an  array  of  twenty  thousand  men  was 
equipped,  ready  for  action,  and  an  alliance  between 
England,  Holland,  Spain,  and  the  Emperor,  projected. 
This  alarmed  Louis  XIV.,  whose  address  and  diplo- 
macy, however,  soon  succeeded  in  warding  off  the 
threatened  danger,  and  in  renewing  with  his  brother 
of  England,  those  amicable  relations,  no  less  advan- 
tasreous  to  the  one.  than  disorraceful  and  ifi^nominious 
to  the  other.  That  Sidney's  suspicions  as  to  the 
object  and  design  of  the  war  on  the  part  of  Charles 
were  correct,  may  be  reasonably  inferred  from  the 
fact,  that  Louis  as  usual  resorted  to  the  purse  in  order 
to  detach  the  King  of  England  from  the  coalition,  and 
offered  him  large  sums  of  money  if  he  would  consent 
to  allow  France  to  make  an  advantageous  peace  with 
the  allies.  The  bait  was  too  tempting  for  the  king  to 
refuse ;  but  there  was  one  article  of  the  negotiation, 
we  are  told,  which  displeased,  as  well  as  surprised 
him ;  Louis  required  that  he  should  never  keep 
above  eight  thousand  regular  troops  in  England. 
'* 'Odd's  fish!"  exclaimed  the  king,  breaking  out 
into  his  usual  exclamation,  *'  Does  my  brother  of 
France  think  to  servo  me  thus  ?  Are  all  his  promises 
to  make  me  absolute  master  of  my  people  come  to 
this  ?  Or  does  he  think  that  a  thing  to  be  done  with 
eight  thousand  men  ?"  A  more  despicable  example  of 
the  monarch  of  a  great  nation,  trafficking  in  the  honor, 
and  bargaining  away  the  interests  and  liberties  of  his 
country  for  inglorious  ease,  pleasure,  and  gold,  it  is 
difficult  to  find  in  history. 


192  ALGERNOIT  SIDNEY. 

It  was  this  opposition  to  the  contemplated  war  with 
France — the  jealousy  of  entrusting  the  King  of  Eng- 
land and  his  brother  the  Duke  of  York  with  an  army, 
for  fear  that  it  might  be  brought  to  subvert  what  was 
left  of  the  constitution  and  liberties  of  the  country, 
which  first  drew  upon  Sidney  the  calumny  that  he 
was  a  pensioner  of  France.  Though  the  jealousy  was 
shared  by  many  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  opposition, 
or  country  party  as  it  was  then  termed,  with  whose 
liberal  sentiments  Col.  Sidney  sympathized,  yet  he 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  encounter  the  charge. 
It  originated,  however,  from  no  very  elevated  source 
— the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury.  Sidney  and  the  earl 
had  a  violent  quarrel.  Shaftesbury  asserted  that 
Sidney  was  a  French  pensioner,  and  a  spy  of  the 
Earl  of  Sunderland.  Of  a  temper  that  could  ill  brook 
such  an  insult  in  silence,  Sidney  at  once  sent  a  mes- 
sage by  his  friend  Hampden  demanding  an  explana- 
tion. That  the  explanation  was  satisfactory,  may  be 
inferred  from  Sidney's  well  known  courage  and  pride 
of  character.  Between  him  and  Shaftesbury  all  inter- 
course thereafter  ceased. 

The  malice  of  his  enemies  has  left  upon  Sidney's 
memory  but  this  one  dishonorable  charge — the  charge 
of  being  a  pensioner  of  France — which,  dying  with 
Shaftesbury  in  1682,  was  nearly  a  century  afterwards 
revived.  Sir  John  Dairy mple,  in  his  "  Memoirs  of 
Grreat  Britain  and  Ireland,"  which  appeared  in  1773, 
has  published  certain  papers,  obtained  from  the  public 
archives  in  France,  tending  to  show  that  Sidney  actually 


,  CHAPTER  VI.  193 

received  the  money  of  Louis  XIV.  for  the  purpose  of 
furthering  the  designs  of  that  monarch  in  England, 
and  of  preventing  the  war  against  France.  It  will  be 
proper  here  briefly  to  examine  the  origin  and  ground 
of  this  serious  accusation. 

The  papers  published  by  Dalrymple,  purport  to  be 
extracts  from  the  despatches  of  Barillon,  the  ambassa- 
dor  of  Louis  in  England,  from  which  it  appears  that 
Barillon  had  carried  on  his  intrigues  with  Lords  Rus- 
sell and  Hollis,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  Hampden, 
Sidney,  and  others  of  the  opposition,  all  of  whom,  ex- 
cept Russell  and  Hollis  had  received  presents^  either 
from  Barillon  himself  or  his  agents.  It  appears  from 
the  papers,  that  Sidney,  on  two  occasions,  had  taken 
sums  of  five  hundred  guineas  each.  Thus  authenti- 
cated, the  charge  has  been  credited  by  other  and  sub- 
sequent writers,  among  whom  we  regret  to  find  Mr. 
Macauley,  who,  while  he  recognizes  the  claim  of  Sid- 
ney "  to  be  called  a  hero,  a  philosopher,  and  a  patriot," 
sees  no  reason  to  discredit  the  evidence  on  which  he 
stands  accused.  Mr.  Macauley,  in  speaking  of  these 
pensioners  says — *'  It  would  be  unjust  to  impute  to  them 
the  extreme  wickedness  of  taking  bribes  to  injure  their 
country.  On  the  contrary,  they  meant  to  serve  her ; 
but  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  they  were  mean  and 
indelicate  enough  to  let  a  foreign  prince  pay  them  for 
serving  her ;"  and,  on  the  authority  of  Sir  John  Dal- 
rymple's  disclosures  alone,  he  thinks  that  even  the 
virtue  and  pride  of  Algernon  Sidney  were  not  proof 
against  the  temptation. 
9 


194  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

It  is  impossible  to  dissent  from  an  authority  so  emi- 
nent and  so  liberal  as  this  accomplished  author,  without 
distrusting  the  correctness  of  our  own  conclusions. 
But  in  this  case,  the  charge  is  one  so  repugnant  to 
every  idea  we  have  been  able  to  form  of  the  character 
of  Sidney,  so  utterly  at  variance  with  the  whole  tenor 
of  his  life,  so  inconsistent  with  every  sentiment  to  be 
found  in  his  written  discourses,  or  his  private  corres- 
pondence, that  it  seems,  notwithstanding  Mr.  Macau- 
ley's  indorsement,  to  bear  its  own  refutation  on  its 
face.  The  source  of  his  authority — the  one  isolated, 
naked  relation  contained  in  the  despatch  of  Barillon, 
as  published  by  Dalrymple— is  as  open  to  our  own  in- 
vestigation as  to  his,  and,  upon  an  examination  of  it, 
the  inference  seems  irresistible  that  the  evidence  is 
entirely  insufficient  to  fasten  such  an  unworthy  suspi- 
cion upon  such  a  man  as  Sidney.  It  may  be  mentioned 
that-  besides  other  writers  of  less  note,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  of  living  British  statesmen.  Lord  John  Russell, 
on  a  full  examination  of  the  charge,  pronounces  it  a 
calumny.  In  the  life  of  his  noble  ancestor.  Lord  Wil- 
liam Russell,  the  co-patriot  and  fellow  martyr  with 
Sidney,  he  carefully  investigates  and  conclusively  re- 
futes the  dishonorable  accusation.  His  opinion  on  this 
subject  is  briefly  summed  up  in  the  following  passage  : 
"  No  one  of  common  sense,  I  imagine,  can  believe  that 
he  took  the  money  for  himself  His  character  is  one 
of  heroic  pride  and  generosity.  His  declining  to  sit  in 
judgment  on  the  king ;  his  extolling  the  sentence 
when   Charles  II.  was  restored  ;  his  shooting  a  horse 


CHAPTER   VI.  195 

for  which  Louis  XIY.  offered  him  a  large  sum,  that  he 
might  not  submit  to  the  will  of  a  despot,  are  all  traits 
of  a  spirit  as  noble  as  it  is  uncommon.  With  a  soul 
above  meanness,  a  station  above  poverty,  and  a  tem- 
per of  philosophy  above  covetousness,  what  man  will 
be  envious  enough  to  think  that  he  was  a  pensioner  of 
France." 

The  accuracy  of  the  copies  of  these  despatches  pub- 
lished by  Dalrymple  has  been  doubted.*  Admitting, 
however,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument  their  genuineness, 
they  seem  to  bear  upon  their  face,  in  connexion  with  the 
known  circumstances  under  which  they  were  written, 
evidence  of  their  falsehood.  Barillon  was  undoubtedly 
deceived  himself,  or  he  wilfully  deceived  his  sovereign  ; 
the  latter  supposition  being  the  most  probable.  No 
doubt  there  were  some  members  of  the  parliament,  as 
well  as  Charles  himself,  who  received  French  gold, — 
and  Barillon  was  Louis'  disbursing  agent.  He  came* 
over  to  England  in  not  very  aflluent  circumstances, 

*  Of  Sir  John  Dalrymple's  book,  Lord  Russell  says :  "  At  first  one  is 
inclined  to  believe  that  his  taste  for  bombast  led  to  numerous  errors ; 
but  when  it  appears,  as  I  think  it  does  in  the  following  pages,  that  there 
is  not  a  single  member  of  the  whig  party  of  any  note  whom  be  has  not 
traduced  by  false  allegations,  it  is  difficult  to  acquit  him  of  intentional 
misrepresentation." 

It  should  be  mentioned  that  the  accuracy  of  Dalrymple's  copies  which 
he  took  in  France,  rests  solely  upon  his  own  evidence.  Lord  Russell, 
while  engaged  in  collecting  the  materials  for  his  work,  was  very  natumlly 
desirous  of  inspecting  personally  these  records,  and  for  that  purpose  made 
an  application  to  the  French  government  through  its  minister  in  London, 
the  Count  de  Carainan,  The  request  was,  however,  refused,  the  ambas- 
sador assuring  him  that  it  was  entirely  contrary  to  the  regulations  of  the 
office,  and  citing  him  a  precedent  to  that  effect. 


196  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

and  returned  after  the  Revolution  loaded  with  riches. 
The  diplomatic  agents  of  the  French  king  were  per- 
mitted, if  not  authorized,  to  paythemselves  out  of  the 
money  entrusted  to  their  care.  That  all  the  money  of 
which  Barillon  pretended  to  give  an  account  to  his 
master,  actually  passed  out  of  his  hands,  is  not  at  all 
probable,  judging  from  his  sudden  acquisition  of 
wealth,  as  well  as  from  his  known  character  for 
intrigue  and  double-dealing.  He  doubtless  deceived 
Louis  and  put  the  money  into  his  own  pocket  ;^  and 
the  question  is,  therefore,  which  supposition  is  the 
most  rational,  the  venality  of  Barillon,  or  the  corrup- 
tion of  Sidney'?  Certainly  the  ambassador  has  nothing 
the  advantage  on  the  score  of  character. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  too,  that  at  the  period  of  the 
alleged  receipt  of  these  presents  from  Barillon,  Sidney 
had  been  but  a  short  time  in  England,  was  under  the 
ban  of  the  government,  entirely  devoid  of  political 
influence  of  any  kind,  and  was  really  not  worth  the 
purchasing,  particularly  by  so  shrewd  a  bargainer  as 
Barillon ;  yet  his  was  exactly  the  name  for  that  wily 
ambassador  to  use  in  his  dispatches  to  Louis  to  cover 
up  his  peculations.     The  French  king  had  known  Sid- 

*  Lord  Russell  inclines  to  the  other  opinion.  Although  he  more  than 
doubts  the  integrity  of  Barillon,  yet  from  the  fact  that  the  money  was  not 
personally  disbursed  by  him,  but  was  made  to  pass  through  the  hands 
of  a  few  corrupt  tools  of  the  minister,  he  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that 
Barillon  was  imposed  upon.  '•  It  seems  most  probable,  upon  the  whole," 
he  says,  "  that  Barillon  was  persuaded  he  was  buying  the  first  speakers 
in  parliament,  and  ruling  the  decisions  of  the  House  of  Commons,  whilst 
in  fa/Jt  he  was  only  paying  a  few  skillful  intriguers." 


CHAPTER  VI.  197 

ney,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  his  determination 
and  energy  of  character  during  his  long  residence  in 
France,  and  Barillon  could  well  conceive  that  his 
master  would  sanction  this  part  of  his  accounts  for 
money  expended  in  gaining  over  such  a  man,  espe- 
cially when  accompanied  with  the  falsehood  that  Sid- 
ney was  really  a  man  of  political  influence  and  that 
he  had  been  of  "  great  service  to  him  on  many  occa- 
sions." The  ambassador  seems  very  willing  indeed  to 
disl^urse  a  larger  amount  of  money  on  that  account 
and  he  intimates  to  Louis,  that  by  "  a  little  more 
being'  g-evew,"  he  believed  that  Sidney  might  be  easily 
gained  over  to  his  majesty's  service.  We  think  these 
dispatches  carry  their  own  refutation  with  them,  and 
that  the  mean  imputation  they  cast  upon  the  charac- 
ter of 'Sidney,  sustained  as  it  is  only  on  Barillon's 
secret  communication  to  the. French  court,  is  unde- 
serving a  notice  in  history.  It  should  be  added,  too, 
that  the  whole  amount  of  this  secret  service  money 
claimed  to  have  been  disbursed  by  Barillon  was  only 
sixteen  thousand  pounds  in  three  years,  and  that  the 
recipients  were  twenty  or  more,  among  whom  were 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham  and  other  members  of  par- 
liament of  the  greatest  influence,  who  certainly,  one 
would  think,  were  not  to  be  purchased  for  a  song.*    It 

^  Lord  John  Russell  on  this  point  very  justly  observes  :  "  It  is  re- 
markable that  of  the  twenty  persons  mentioned  in  Barillon's  last  and 
longest  list,  not  above  half  were  in  parliament,  and  almost  all  of  these 
were  leaders.  Now.  if  any  one  or  two  obtained  money  from  Barillon 
for  persons  to  whom  they  did  not  distribute  it,  or  if  Barillon  himself 
embezzled  the  money,  the  names  which  would  naturally  appear  in  his 


198  ALGEElSrON   SIDNEY. 

does  not  seem  very  probable  that  the  shrewd  French- 
man would  actually  have  wasted  a  thousand  guineas 
on  the  proscribed  Sidney,  when  members  of  parlia- 
ment and  votes  were  to  be  had,  as  he  pretends,  at  a 
less  price. 

That  Sidney  entertained  a  contempt  for  the  charac- 
acter  and  pretensions  of  Barillon,  and  that  any  inter- 
course he  may  have  had  with  him,  so  far  from  being 
of  a  confidential  nature,  was  merely  tolerated  and  not 
courted  is  evident  from  Sidney's,  correspondency  of 
that  period  with  Saville,  the  English  Ambassador  in 
Paris.  In  a  letter  under  date  of  July  10th,  1679,^  he 
contemptuously  mentions  the  French  minister  : — 

"  You  know  Monsieur  de  Barillon  governs  us,  if  he 
be  not  mistaken  ;  but  he  seems  to  be  not  so  much 
pleased  with  that,  as  to  find  his  embonpoint  increased 
by  the  moistness  of  our  air,  by  frequently  clapping  his 
hands  upon  his  thighs,  showing  the  delight  he  hath  in 
the  sharpness  of  the  sound  that  testifies  the  plumpness 
and  hardness  of  his  flesh  ;  and  certainly  if  this  climate 
did  not  nourish  him  better  than  any  other,  the  hairs  of 
his  nose  and  nails  of  his  fingers  could  not  grow  so  fast 
as  to  furnish  enough  of  the  one  to  pull  out,  and  of  the 

list  would  be  those  of  the  speakers  of  the  greatest  reputation.  But  if 
the  transactions  were  real,  it  is  much  more  probable  that  he  should  have 
been  able  to  buy  the  lower  and  more  obscure  members  of  parliament, 
than  those  whose  fame  stood  highest  for  ability  and  integrity."— Xj/e  of 
Lord  William  Russell^  vol  i.,  p.  199. 

*  One  of  Barillon's  charges  of  money  against  Sidney,  is  of  the  date 
of  December  14th,  1679;  the  other  of  December  5th,  1680. 


CHAPTER   VI.  199 

other  to  cut  off,  in  all  companies,  which  being  done,  he 
pricks  his  ears  with  as  good  a  grace  as  my  Lord  La !" 

The  pretended  w^ar  with  France,  the  raising  of  an 
army  which  the  king  refused  to  disband,  and  the  long 
series  of  arbitrary  measures  which-  the  government  of 
Charles  was  enabled,  by  a  servile  Parliament,  gradually 
to  adopt,  at  length  awakened  the  minds,  and  aroused 
the  spirits  of  the  English  nation.  During  the  seventeen 
years  of  the  present  Parliament  there  had  been  many 
vacancies  among  its  members,  mainly  occasioned  by 
death.  These  had  been  filled  up  in  nearly  every  in- 
stance by  members  opposed  to  the  ceurt.  And  the 
country  party,  or,  as  it  was  at*  this  period,  first  styled, 
in  derision  by  its  opponents,  the  icing's j  were  soon  in 
a  situation  to  control  its  deliberations  and  to  thwart 
the  royal  designs. 

The  famous  Popish  Plot  at  this  time  broke  out.  It 
was  quickly  seized  upon  by  Shaftesbury,  and  some  of 
the  more  unscrupulous  leaders  of  the  whigs,  and  soon 
became  a  most  formidable  political  engine.  The  ha- 
tred against  popery  at  that  time,  and  for  years  after, 
was  a  common  sentiment  with  both  political  parties 
in  England.  It  was  believed,  and,  doubtless,  with 
some  truth,  as  the  next  reign  sadly  illustrated,  that 
the  establishment  of  popery  was  dangerous  to  the  lib- 
erties and  constitution  of  the  nation  ;  and  accord- 
ingly, ever  since  the  Reformation,  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  Parliament  had 
enacted  and  continued  the  severest,  and,  in  some 
cases,  the  most  intolerant  laws  against  the   Papists 


200  ALGEENOIT  SIDI^^Y. 

and  their  religion.  Even  the  liberal  principles  of  the 
republicans,  and  the  tolerance  of  the  Protector's  gov- 
ernment itself,  were  not  broad  enough  to  take  in  the  pro- 
scribed Jesuit  and  the  devotee  of  Rome.  Sidney,  when 
advocating  the  noblest  principles  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  and  conceding  to  all  men  as  a  natural  right, 
freedom  of  conscience  and  worship,  still  seemed  to 
make  the  same  discrimination.  In  his  "  Apology,"  he 
says,  he  never  failed  to  sustain  the  doctrines  he  avows 
**  against  corrupt  principles,  arbitrary  power,  3.nd  pope- 
ryP  The  reason  which  influenced  his  mind,  and  the 
minds  of  othegi-s  of  the  leading  men  of  that  age,  was 
not  one  of  narrow  sectarian  prejudice,  but  it  was  the 
comprehensive  and  conclusive  reason,  confirmed  by 
past  experience,  that  popery  was  absolutely  inconsis- 
tent with  freedom,  and  that  its  establishment  must 
inevitably  lead  to  the  building  up  of  despotism  on  the 
ruins  of  the  English  constitution.  Popery,  to  Sidney, 
was  in  itself  tyranny,  and  he  opposed  it  with  the 
same  motives  and  views  that  he  did  the  usurpation  of 
Cromwell  and  the  despotism  of  Charles  II. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Sidney  should  have  been  a 
believer  in  the  reality  of  the  "  Popish  Piot,"  and  the 
existence  of  a  conspiracy,  on  the  part  of  the  Jesuits, 
to  kill  the  king,  and  to  elevate  his  brother,  the  Duke 
of  York,  a  papist,  to  the  throne.  The  belief  was  al- 
most unanimous  all  over  England,  though  the  plot 
was  sustained  by  no  better  testimony  than  that  of  the 
infamous  and  perjured  Titus  Gates  and  his  associates. 
The  king  himself  professed  to  believe  it,  and  if  we  are 


CHAPTER   VI.  201 

to  credit  the  testimony  of  the  poet  Dryden,  no  willing 
witness  certainly  against  the  Duke  of  York,  or  in  fa- 
vor of  the  whigs,  there  was  at  the  bottom  of  all  this 
absurdity  something  of  reality.  In  his  Absalom  and 
Achitophel,  he  says  : — 

"  Some  truth  there  was,  though  mix't  and  brewed  with  lies." 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Popish  Plot  served  its  turn, 
and  contributed  more  than  anything  else  to  rouse  the 
minds  of  the  English  nation  against  the  succession  of 
the  Duke  of  York  and  even  against  the  government  over 
which  the  Duke  was  suspected  of  having  too  much 
influence.  The  king  finding  his  Parliament  refractory, 
and,  in  the  language  of  Hume,  "  treading  fast  in  the 
steps  of  the  last  Long  Parliament,"  at  length  ventured 
to  dissolve  it,  which  was  done  in  January,  1679. 

A  new  Parliament  was  at  once  summoned.  Tho 
friends  of  liberal  principles  throughout  all  England 
were  aroused.  A  spirited  and  angry  contest  succeed- 
ed for  members,  such  as  had  never  yet  been  known 
since  the  foundation  of  the  monarchy.  The  court 
engaged  openly  and  warmly  in  this  contest,  and  en- 
deavored to  influence  the  elections.  Sidney  offered 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  borough  of  Gruildford, 
in  Surry.  The  celebrated  William  Penn,  then  an 
active  opponent  of  the  arbitrary  measures  of  the  gov- 
ernment, was  one  of  his  most  ardent  partizans.  Penn 
appeared  on  the  hustings  to  encourage  his  friends  in 
the  support  of  Sidney.  He  was  rudely  interrupted 
by  an  officer  of  the  crown,  who  unlawfully  attempted 


202  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

to  administer  an  oath  to  him,  which  neither  the  con- 
science nor  the  pride  of  the  sturdy  Quaker  would 
suffer  him  to  take.  Penn  w^as  compelled  to  leave  the 
court,  and  with  many  of  his  friends  was  prevented 
from  voting.  Other  irregularities,  equally  gross,  were 
practised,  by  means  of  which  the  opponent  of  Sidney 
was  returned  to  the  house.  Penn  subsequently  wrote 
to  Sidney,  urging  him  to  resist  the  outrage,  and  to 
present  his  claims  in  a  petition  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, which  he  did.  The  petition  was  referred  to  the 
committee  of  privileges  and  elections,  but  the  matter 
was  not  acted  upon,  owing,  probably,  to  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Parliament  soon  after. 

Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  court,  the  new 
Parliament  was  more  unmanageable  than  the  old 
one.  A  decisive  majority  of  its  members  were  hostile 
to  the  Duke  of  York,  and  determined  upon  passing  a 
bill  to  exclude  him  from  the  throne.  The  bill  was 
introduced  into  the  House  of  Commons,  and  passed 
that  body.  Its  prdvisions  were  severe  and  highly 
penal,  and  exhibit  very  favorably  the  resolute  spirit 
which  actuated  this  Parliament.  Sidney,  in  the  cor- 
respondence which  he  kept  up  with  his  friend  Saville, 
at  Paris,  speaks  of  the  introduction  and  provisions  of 
this  bill,  in  a  letter  under  date  of  May  19th,  1679 : 

"  The  severe  bill  against  the  Duke  of  York  was 
read  on  Thursday  last,  and  is  appointed  to  be  read 
again  to-morrow.  It  recites  the  Pope's  pretensions  to 
power  over  kings,  particularly  in  England  ;  the  im- 
morality of  the  Roman  religion ;  incompatibility  of 


CHAPTFR  TI.  203 

those  who  profess  it  with  'English  Protestants  ;  their 
perpetual  plots  against  the  government ;  sedulity  in 
seducing  the  duke,  and  a  multitude  of  other  things 
of  like  nature  in  the  preamble  ;  asserts  the  power 
of  Parliament  to  dispose  of  the  succession^  as  best 
conducive  to  the  good  of  the  kingdom,  which  had 
been  often  exercised  in  debarring  those  that  were 
nearest  in  blood,  but  never  with  so  much  reason  as 
now.  "Wherefore  it  doth  enact,  *  that  the  duke  should 
be,  and  was  thereb}',  excluded  ;'  declares  him  attaint- 
ed of  high  treason,  if  he  landed  in  England  before  or 
after  the  king's  death  ;  forbids  commerce  or  corres- 
pondence with  him  under  the  same  penalty  of  high 
treason." 

This  bill  passed  the  House  of  Commons  by  a  ma- 
jority of  seventy-nine,  but  was  not  brought  to  a  vote 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  the  Parliament  being  soon 
after  dissolved.  By  it.«^  provisions  the  succession  was 
fixed  in  the  next  heir  of  the  Duke  of  York,  who  was 
the  Princess  Mary,  married  to  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
The  whigs,  however,  were  divided  in  their  views  of 
the  succession.  A  portion  of  them,  and  those  who 
went  farthest  in  support  of  liberal  principles,  favored 
James,  Duke  of  Monmouth,  a  natural  son  of  the 
king  by  Lucy  Walters,  a  beautiful  Welch  girl,  whom 
pharles  had  met  in  his  exile  at  the  Hague,  and,  had 
made  his  mistress,  but  to  whom  it  was  now  pretended 
he  had  been  secretly  married.  To  Sidney,  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  Duke  of  York  at  first  seems  to  have  been 
a   matter   of  entire   indifference.     The  firmness  and 


204:  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

consistency  of  his  principles  admitted  no  temporizing 
with  monarchy.  The  free  institutions  toward  which 
he  looked,  and  that  civil  liberty  for  which  he  had 
struggled,  were  not  to  be  attained  merely  by  a 
change  of  rulers.  He  frankly  declared  it  was  indif- 
ferent to  him  whether  James,  Duke  of  York,  or  James, 
Duke  of  Monmouth,  succeeded  to  th«  throne.  It 
was,  however,  suggested  to  him,  *'  that  a  prince  with 
a  defective  title  would  be  sure  to  govern  well,  con- 
sidering himself  at  the  mercy  of  the  hereditary 
claimant,  if,  by  neglecting  the  interests,  he  should 
lose  the  affections  of  the  people."  This  suggestion 
was  not  lost  upon  him.  Sidney  thenceforth  labored 
to  avert  the  fearful  despotism  which  subsequently 
overtook  England,  in  the  accession  to  the  throne  of 
the  bigoted  and  blood-thirsty  tyrant  James  11. 

As  between*  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  Monmouth, 
Sidney's  views  during  the  agitation  of  the  exclusion 
bill,  were  frankly  expressed  to  Saville  : — 

"  The  first  hath  plainly  the  most  plausible  title  by 
his  mother  and  his  wife  ;  but  besides  the  opinion  of 
the  influence  it  is  believed  the  Duke  of  York  would 
have  over  him,  it  is  feared  that  the  Commonwealth 
party  in  Holland  would  be  so  frighted  with  that,  as  to 
cast  itself  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  the  king  of 
France,  who  might,  thereby,  have  a  fair  occasion  of 
ruining  both  England  and  Holland.  I  need  not  tell 
you  the  reasons  against  Monmouth  ;  but  the  strongest 
I  hear  alleged  for  him  are,  that  whosoever  is  opposed 
to  York,  will  have  a  good  party  ;  and  all  Scotland, 


CHAPTEB   VI.  205 

which  is  every  day  likely  to  be  in  arms,  doth  certainly 
favor  him,  and  may,  probably,  be  of  as  much  impor- 
'tance  in  the  troubles  that  are  now  likely  to  fall  upon 
us  as  they  were  in  the  beginning  of  the  last." 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  Sidney  was  not  a  par- 
tizan  of  York,  of  Monmouth,  or  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  -and  really  favored  the  pretensions  of  neither. 
Yet  he  deprecated  the  succession  of  the  Duke  of  York 
as  the  greatest  calamity  that  could  befal  his  country. 
Monmouth  he  believed  to  be  the  most  eligible  candi- 
date to  concentrate  public  opinion,  and  the  whole 
strength  of  the  friends  of  liberty,  in  opposition  to  the 
Duke  ;  and  as  a  choice  of  evils,  he  therefore  looked  to 
Monmouth  rather  than  the  Prince  of  Orange,  as  the 
rival  of  James.  But  there  is  no  evidence  that  Sidney 
favored  monarchy  even  with  the  prospect  of  raising 
Monmouth  to  the  throne,  or,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  that  such  was  the  design  of  any  conference  he 
may  have  had  with  Russell,  Hampden,  and  Essex, 
upon  which  the  charge  of  treason  was  based  against 
him. 

At  this  period,  Charles  being  embarrassed  by  the 
importunities  of  the  popular  party,  and  having  failed 
in  his  attempts  to  govern  by  his  ministry,  as  a  last 
resort  availed  himself  of  the  counsels  and  well  known 
abilities  of  Sidney's  old  friend  and  correspondent.  Sir 
William  Temple.  By  the  advice  of  Temple,  the  king 
consented  to  appoint  a  privy  council  of  thirty  mem- 
bers, by  whose  assistance  he  was  to  carry  on  the  gov- 
ernment.    Many  eminent   members   of   the   country 


206  ALGERNON  SIDNl^Y. 

party  were  appointed,  and,  among  others,  the  Lords 
Russell  and  Essex.  Shaftesbury,  then  at  the  height  of 
his  popularity,  was  named  president.  Of  this  council 
four  members  were  charged  with  the  chief  authority, 
and  formed  a  sort  of  privy  council  or  cabinet ;  these 
were  Temple  and  Essex,  and  Sidney's  relatives,  Hali- 
fax and  Sunderland. 

The  expedient,  however,  proved  unsuccessful. 
Charles  broke  his  pledged  word  to  take  no  important 
step  without  the  advice  of  his  council.  Alarmed  at 
the  progress  of  the  exclusion  bill,  and  the  bold  tone  of 
the  leaders  of  tl\e  opposition,  he  first  prorogued,  and 
then  dissolved  the  Parliament,  not  only  without  the 
advice,  but  without  the  knowledge  of  his  council. 
The  dissatisfaction  occasioned  by  the  first  of  these 
steps  is  thus  noticed  by  Sidney  in  a  letter  of  June  2d, 
1679,  to  Saville  :  *. 

"  No  man  will  avow  having  been  the  king's  coun- 
sellor in  this  business ;  and  some  wonder  that  his 
majesty,  having  promised,  in  constituting  the  privy 
council,  that  he  would  in  all  things  follow  their  ad- 
vices next  unto  those  of  the  Parliament,  should  so 
suddenly  prorogue  that  great  council  without  so  much 
as  asking  the  other.  This  fills  men's  minds  with 
many  ill  humors  ;  the  Parliament  men  go  down  dis- 
contented, and  are  likely,  by  their  reports,  to  add  unto 
the  discontents  of  the  counties  which  are  already  very 
great ;  and  the  fears  from  the  Papists  at  home,  and 
their  friends  abroad,  being  added  thereunto,  they  be- 
gin to  look  more  than  formerly  into  the  means  of  pre- 


CHAPTER    VI.  207 

serving  themselves.  Some,  that  know  matters  better 
than  I  do,  must  tell  you  whether  we  shall  have  the 
same  Parliament  at  the  end  of  the  prorogation,  or  a 
new  one,  or  none  at  all ;  but  I  think  this  or  another 
will  be  found  necessary ;  and  if  this  be  dissolved, 
another  will  be  chosen  of  less  inclination  to  favor  the 
court.'''' 

Sidney's  prediction  was  abundantly  verified.  A 
new  Parliament  was  summoned  early  in  the  following 
year,  and  a  large  majority  of  the  opposition  were  re- 
turned to  the  House  of  Commons.  Sidney  was  again  a 
candidate,  this  time  from  the  borough  of  Bramber  in 
Sussex,  and  again  was  he  zealously  sustained  by  tho 
influence  of  his  friend  William  Penn.  Sir  John  Fagg 
and  Sir  John  Temple  also  warmly  aided  at  the  polls. 
The  feeling  of  the  electors  was  strongly  enlisted  in  his 
behalf,  and  his  friends  confidently  predicted  his  suc- 
cess. The  court  once  more  interfered  by  means  of 
Sir  John  Pelham,  who  exerted  all  his  influence  in 
favor  of  Sidney's  younger  brother  Henry,  then  on  a 
mission  in  Holland.  The  polls  closed  with  a  double 
return.  Sidney  thought  himself  duly  elected,  and 
claimed  his  seat  in  the  House.  Still,  when  the  Parlia- 
ment met,  in  October,  1680,  after  repeated  proroga» 
tions,  his  election  was  declared  void. 

"While  the  question  was  still  undecided,  and  indeed 
soon  after  the  election,  Sidney  wrote  to  Saville  express- 
ing his  doubt  as  to  the  result : 

"  I  am  not  able  to  give  so  much  as  a  guess  whether 
the  Parliament  shall  sit  the  26th  of  January  or  not, 


208  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

there  being  a  double  return  ;  and  nothing  can  be  as- 
sured until  the  question  arising  thereupon  be  deter- 
mined ;  unless  it  be  that  as  /  and  my  principles  are 
out  of  fashion^  my  inclination  going-  one  way,  my 
friendship  and  alliance  with  those  that  are  like  to 
give  occasion  for  the  greatest  contests,  drawing 
another,  I  shall  be  equally  disliked  and  suspected  by 
both  parties,  and  thereby  become  the  most  inconsider- 
able member  of  the  House." 

He  alludes  here,  doubtless,  to  his  intercourse  and 
family  connexion  with  such  men  as  Sunderland,  and 
Saville's  brother,  Halifax,  with  whose  principles  he 
was  widely  at  variance.  Halifax,  by  his  genius  and 
eloquence  in  the  House  of  Lords,  subsequently  defeat- 
ed the  Exclusion  bill  in  that  same  Parliament,  and 
thus  rendered  the  most  vital  service  to  a  cause  which 
the  sterner  principles  of  Sidney  never  permitted  him  to 
favor,  and  to  a  government  which  he  despised.  Sid- 
ney well  observed  in  this  letter,  that  he  and  his  prin- 
ciples were  out  of  fashion  ;  he  might  have  added,  that 
he  had  become  an  object  of  suspicion  and  enmity  to 
the  government,  and  that  his  presuming  to  aspire  to  a 
seat  in  Parliament  was  considered  as  an  act  of  the 
highest  effrontery.  It  is  quite  apparent  that  long 
before  his  arrest  the  government  had  resolved  on  his 
ruin,  and  that  a  decpnt  pretext  only  was  wanted  to 
accomplish  it.  Even  his  most  trivial  actions  were 
laid  hold  of  and  magnified  into  crimes.  For  no  greater 
offence  than  looking  from  a  balcony  in  London,  at 
a  warm  contest  between  the  court  and  people  in  the 


CHAPTER   VI.  209 

election  of  sheriff,  he  was  indicted  for  a  riot.  It  was 
attempted  to  involve  him  in  a  pretended  conspiracy  of 
the  non-conformist  to  murder  the  king  and  exclude 
the  royal  family.  Sidney,  oa  this  occasion,  appeared 
before  the  king  in  person,  and  proved  to  the  natural 
good  sense  of  Charles,  that  there  neither  was  nor 
could  be  anything  of  that  nature.  The  principal  in- 
former of  the  "  Meal  Tub  Plot,"  in  which  it  was 
designed  to  involve  Sidney,  was  the  vagabond  Danger- 
field.  This  man,  however,  when  summoned  to  the 
bar  of  the  House,  seemed  all  at  once  to  change  sides, 
and  instead  of  implicating  the  Presbyterians,  to  throw 
the  odium  upon  the  Papists.  Sidney  mentions  in  a  let- 
ter to  Saville,  that  Dangerfield  declared  positively,  at 
the  bar  of  the  Commons,  "  that  the  Duke  of  York 
had  offered  him  a  great  sum  of  money  to  kill  the 
king.  He  also  said  that  the  Lord  Privy  Seal  Peter- 
borough, and  Sir  Robert  Payton  were  contrivers  of  the 
*  Meal  Tub  Plot.'  " 

The  judgment  of  Charles  seems  to  have  been  supe- 
rior to  all  these  clumsy  contrivances,  and  he  never 
appears  to  have  seriously  feared  -assassination.  There 
was  good  sense,  as  well  as  wit,  in  the  remark  he  play- 
fully made  to  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York  :  "  Be- 
lieve me,  James,  nobody  will  kill  me  to  make  you 
king."  A  plan  for  his  assassination,  and  perhaps  the 
only  one  ever  seriously  entertained,  was  concert- 
ed during  the  Commonwealth,  long  before  Charles 
came  to  the  throne,  and  Sidney  himself  was  the 
means  of  preventing  its  execution.     It   was  no  idle 


210  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

boast  of  his,  therefore,  when  he  said,  "  I  think  I  did 
once  save  his  majesty's  life."  How  the  obligation 
w^as  repaid  will  presently  be  seen. 

The  new  Parliament  was  found  still  more  refractory, 
and  even  revolutionary,  than  the  old.  The  discontent 
of  the  nation  at  the  arbitrary  government  of  Charles, 
and  particularly  at  the  possibility  of  a  Popish  successor 
in  the  person  of  his  brother  James,  whose  principles 
were  as  odious  as  his  conduct  was  tyrannical,  mani- 
fested itself  in  the  mos^t  determined  opposition.  Parties 
seemed  to  be  preparing  for  a  struggle  similar  to  that 
which  twenty  years  before  convulsed  the  natiop. 
Within  a  week  after  the  assembling  of  Parliament 
the  Exclusion  bill  was  again  introduced.  The  chiefs 
of  the  popular  party — Sidney's  friends.  Sir  William 
Jones,  Russell,  and  Hampden — rallied  in  support  of  it. 
It  passed  the  Commons  by  a  great  majority.  When 
the  bill  came  to  the  House  of  Lords,  it  received  the 
powerful  support  of  Shaftesbury,  Sunderland,  and 
Essex ;  the  debate  was  spun  out  till  a  late  hour  of 
the  night  in  presence  of  the  king  ;  Halifax  opposed 
the  bill,  and  brought  all  his  consummate  ability  and 
his  masterly  eloquence  to  the  aid  of  the  court,  and 
with  the  most  triumphant  success  ;  on  the  final  vote, 
the  bill  was  rejected  by  a  considerable  majority.  The 
disappointment  of  the  popular  party  w^as  keen  and 
deep.  It  manifested  itself  in  open  resentment.  The 
House  of  Commons  refused  to  vote  subsidies  for  the 
king.  Charles,  driven  almost  to  despair,  humbly 
begged  of  them  a  supply,  alleging  as  a  pretext,  that 


CHAPTER  VI. 


211 


it  was  necessary  to  meet  the  danger  which  threatened 
Tangier.  The  house  replied  that  it  was  better  that 
Tangier  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  King  of  Fez,  than 
serve  to  discipline  Papist  troops.  The  spirit  of  John 
Hampden  seemed  to  animate  his  grandson,  who  boldly 
avowed  in  his  place,  that  "  the  Duke  of  York  is 
Admiral  of  Tangier,  and  therefore  we  prefer  that 
Tangier  be  abandoned."  Alarmed  at  the  determined 
temper  exhibited  in  the  Parliament,  the  king  re- 
solved to  dissolve  it ;  yet,  at  the  very  moment  of  its 
dissolution,  the  House  was  engaged  in  passing  some 
spirited  resolutions  and  acts,  which  proved  that  it  was 
fully  determined  never  to  abandon  the  position  it  had 
assumed. 


CHAPTEE    VII. 

New  Parliament  summoned  at  Oxford — Differs  with  the  King,  and  is 
dissolved — Proclamation  of  the  King — Pamphlet  of  Sidney  in  reply — 
Prosecution  of  College — Shaftesbury —  His  character — His  connection 
with  the  popular  party — His  quarrel  with  Sidney— Lord  Howard  and 
the  Duke  of  Monmouth — Sidne)'  introduced  to  the  duke  by  a  fraud  of 
Howard — Sidney's  intercourse  with  Monmouth,  Russel,  Essex,  and 
Hampden — Nature  of  the  conferences  between  the  patriots — Council 
of  six — Sidney's  connection  with  it — The  Rye-house  plot — The  con- 
spirators betrayed  to  the  government — Rumors  of  Sidney's  connection 
with  it— Arrest  of  the  conspirators — Sidney  arrested — His  conduct 
before  the  council — Committed  to  the  Tower — Is  waited  upon  by  a 
committee  to  be  examined — Refuses  to  answer  questions — Efforts  to 
obtain  evidence  against  him — Arrest  of  Lord  Howard — He  turns 
king's  evidence — Trial  and  execution  of  Lord  Russell — His  life  and 
character — Death  of  Essex — The  court  resolves  to  bring  Sidney  to 
trial — Hampden  tried  for  a  misdemeanor  and  convicted— Preparations 

*  for  the  trial  of  Sidney — Difficulties  in  the  way  of  his  conviction. 

The  implacable  arid  narrow-minded  James  coun- 
selled his  brother  to  adopt  severe  and  arbitrary  mea- 
sures. Immediately  after  the  dissolution  he  wrote  to 
him  :  *'  The  moment  is  come  to  be  truly  king,  or  to 
perish:  *no  more  Parliaments;'  it  is  to  France  ^ou 
must  have  recourse  for  subsidies."     Charles,  however, 


CHAPTER  TH.  213 

for  once  disregarded  the  advice,  and  summoned  a  new 
Parliament  at  Oxford.  Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of 
the  court,  most  of  the  popular  members  were  returned, 
and  the  same  speaker  was  elected.  Thousands  of 
citizens  followed  the  London  deputies  to  Oxford,  armed, 
and  bearing  ribbons  on  their  hats,  with  the  device, 
^'' no  slavery^''  ^' no  popery.^^  The  king  took  a  firm 
attitude  on  opening  the  Parliament,  but  declared  his 
attachment  to  the  religion  and  constitution  of  the 
state.  The  Commons  replied,  reiterating  their  demand 
that  the  bill  excluding  the  Duke  of  York  should  be 
accepted  as  the  first  condition  of  a  truce  between 
them  and  the  throne.  A  session  of  a  few  brief  and 
stormy  days  satisfied  the  king  that  this  Parliament 
was,  if  possible,  still  more  rebellious  and  unmanage- 
able than  the  last ;  he  hastily  dissolved  it,  and  retired 
with  his  whole  retinue  to  London. 

It  was  on  this  occasion,  in  March  1681,  that 
Charles  issued  a  proclamation  justifying  his  conduct, 
and  assigning  reasons  for  dissolving  the  last  two  Par- 
liaments. To  this  declaration  a  spirited  answer 
appeared,  entitled  "  A  Just  and  Modest  Vindication  of 
the  Proceedings  of  the  two  last  Parliaments."  The 
answer  was  from  the  pen  of  Sidney,  revised  and  cor- 
rected by  Sir  William  Jones.  Bishop  Burnet  says  of 
thi«  pamphlet  that  for  **  spirit  and  true  judgment,  it 
was  the  best  written  paper  of  the  times."  Sidney 
charges  the  Duke  of  York  w^ith  advising  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Parliament  ;  with  being  at  the  head  of  the 
popish  faction;  with   favoring  the   designs  of  Louis 


214:  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

XIV.,  by  encouraging  traitors  and  pensioners;  with 
endeavoring  to  reign  without  Parliaments,  and  intro- 
duce the  popish  religion  ;  with  betraying  the  secrets 
of  state  to  Barillon,  the  French  ambassador,  who  knew 
of  the  intended  dissolution  of  Parliament  three  days 
before  it  was  known  to  the  peers  at  Oxford,  by  which 
means  the  time  of  dissolving  the  Parliament  was 
known  sooner  in  Paris  than  in  London;  and  he  ob- 
serves— "  G-ood  God  I  to  what  a  condition  is  this 
kingdom  reduced,  w^hen  the  ministers  'and  agents  of 
the  only  prince  in  the  world  who  can  have  designs 
against  us,  or  of  whom  we  ought  to  be  afraid,  are  not 
only  made  acquainted  with  the  most  secret  passages 
of  state,  but  are  made  our  chief  ministers,  too,  and 
have  the  principal  conduct  of  our  affairs.  And  lot  the 
world  judge  if  the  Commons  had  not  reason  for  their 
vote,  when  they  declared  those  eminent  persons  who 
manage  things  at  this  rate,  to  be  enemies  to  the  king 
and  kingdom,  and  promoters  of  the  French  interests." 
This  paper,  able  though  it  was,  and  convincing, 
had  but  little  effect.  Indeed  a  strong  reaction  seemed 
to  have  taken  place,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  Parlia- 
ment at  Oxford,  and  the  manifesto  of  the  king,  all  at 
once,  and  most  unaccountably,  turned  to  the  profit  of 
the  court.  The  strength  of  the  exclusionists  was 
divided,  if  not  broken,  and  the  resolute  front  which 
Charles  showed  his  opponents,  seemed  to  indicate  that 
he  had  taken  the  duke's  advice,  and  like  his  father 
was  resolved  to  attempt  to  carry  on  the  government 
without  Parliaments. 


CHAPTER  vn.  215 

Emboldened  by  success,  the  court  party  strove 
to  retaliate  with  a  heavy  hand  upon  their  enemies. 
A  noisy  whig,  named  College,  was  arrested  as  a  con- 
spirator .against  the  life  of  the  king  ;  but  a  London 
grand  jury,  being  summoned  by  whig  sheriffs,  re- 
fused to  indict  him.  College  was  then  removed  to 
Oxford,  where  he  w^as  indicted,  tried,  convicted,  and 
executed.  The  next  object  of  the  vengeance  of  the 
court  was  a  more  formidable  enemy — the  celebrated, 
and  infamous  as  celebrated,  Earl  of  Shaftesbury. 
The  earl  was  arrested  and  committed  to  the  tower, 
but  a  London  grand  jury  again  stood  resolutely,  and 
this  time  successfully,  between  the  throne  and  its 
intended  victim. 

This  veteran  politician  was  one  of  the  most  singu- 
lar characters  of  the  period  in  which  he  lived,  and,  as 
his  history  is  somewhat  connected  with  that  of  Sidney 
and  his  friends,  we  may  interrupt  the  narrative  a 
moment  to  glance  at  it.  Gifted  with  a  brilliant  but 
versatile  mind — devoured  with  a  fierce  ambition — a 
consummate  but  most  unscrupulous  politician,  utterly 
devoid  of  principle  and  moral  feeling,  Sir  Anthony 
Ashley  Cooper  was  emphatically  the  Talleyrand  of  his 
age.  The  pen  of  the  poet  Dryden  has  admirably 
sketched  the  character  of  this  celebrated  statesman, 
under  the  name  of  Achitophel^  in  a  satire  that  will 
last  as  long  as  the  English  language  is  spoken  : 

"  Of  these  the  false  Achitophel  was  first, 
A  name  to  all  succeeding  ages  cursed. 
For  close  designs  and  crooked  counsels  fit ; 


216  ALGEExNON   SIDNEY. 

Sagacious,  bold,  and  turbulent  of  wit ; 

Restless,  unfixt  in  principles  and  place, 

la  power  unpleased,  imj)atient  of  disgrace ; 

A  fiery  soul,  which  working  out  its  way, 

Fretted  the  pigmy  body  to  decay, 

And  o'er  informed  the  tenement  of  clay. 

A  daring  pilot  in  extremity ; 

Pleased  with  the  danger  when  the  waves  went  high ; 

He  sought  the  storms ;  but  for  a  calm  unfit, 

Would  steer  too  nigh  the  sands  to  boast  his  wit. 

^  ^  *  ^  TT 

In  friendship  false,  implacable  in  hate, 

Resolved  to  ruin  or  to  rule  the  state, 

To  compass  this  the  triple  bond  he  broke  ; 

The  pillars  of  the  public  safety  shook. 

And  fitted  Israel  for  a  foreign  yoke. 

Then  seized  with  fear,  yet  still  affecting  fame, 

Usurped  a  patriot's  all  atoning  name,"  &c. 

Ashley  Cooper  had  been  deeply  implicated  in  all 
the  political  intrigues  of  the  day,  and  had  figured 
conspicuously  in  the  affairs  of  the  Commonwealth 
under  the  Protector.  He  had  alternately  served  and 
betrayed  all  parties,  and  so  well-timed  was  his  treach- 
ery upon  every  change  of  administration,  that  it  uni- 
versally redounded  to  his  own  advantage. 

In  early  youth  he  had  been  a  royalist.'  When 
the  cause  of  the  king  began  to  wane,  he  turned  Pres- 
byterian and  patriot,  and  joined  the  Parliament.  His 
keen  eye  saw  at  a  glance  that  Cromwell  was  the  rising 
star  ;  and  on  the  dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament, 
he  separated  himself  from  the  republicans  and  ad- 
hered to  the  fortunes  of  the  lord-general.  With  his 
fellow-traitor,  Gen.  Monk,  the  future  Duke  of  Albe- 


CHAPTER  vn.  217 

marie,  he  was  a  member  of  Cromwell's  "  Barebone 
Parliament ;"  and  from  this  period  his  fortune  may 
be  dated.  Here  he  obsequiously  followed  the  nod  of 
the  dictator,  and  performed  for  him  various  important 
services — among  others,  introducing  a  bill  to  abolish 
the  forms  of  the  Commonwealth,  by  annulling  the 
engagement  "to  be  true  and  faithful  to  the  Common- 
wealth of  England,  as  then  established  without  king 
or  House  of  Lords  ;"  the  bill  was  rejected  only  to 
be  renewed  and  carried  in  a  subsequent  Parliament 
summoned  by  the  Protector.  This  statesman,  so  un- 
scrupulous and  subtle-minded,  was  yet  a  profound 
and  able  lawyer.  He  was  made  a  member  of  the 
celebrated  commission  appointed  by  the  "  Barebone 
Parliament,"  to  codify  and  remodel  the  whole  body 
of  the  English  statute  and  common  law  !  Sir  Ashley 
Cooper  was  then  a  radical  reformer,  and,  of  course,  a 
most  active  and  influential  member  of  the  commission; 
but  it  seems  to  have  met  with  no  better  success  than 
has  attended  the  labors  of  a  similar  commission  in 
more  modern  times.*  He  was  also  an  effective 
instrument  in  the  dissolution  of  this  Parliament  and 
the  elevation  of  Cromwell  to  the  Protectorship.  For 
these  services  he  was  rewarded  with  a  seat  in  the 
council  of  state  in  the  new  government,  and  subse- 
quently was  appointed  by  the  Protector  lord  chancellor 
of  England.  It  may  be  mentioned  as  one  of  the 
most  curious  instances  of  Sir  Ashley  Cooper's  versa- 

*  The  author  alludes  to  the  commission  to  codify  the  laws,  appoint- 
ed pursuant  to  the  new  constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
10 


218  ALGEEXON   SIDNEY. 

tility  of  character  ani  accomplishments,  that  he  was 
ready  to  perform  any  service,  secular  or  religious, 
assigned  him.  Thus  his  name  is  found  in  connection 
with  those  of  the  Presbyterian  divines,  Owen  and 
Baxter,  in  the  commissions  appointed  by  Cromwell's 
government  to  examine  the  clergy,  and  to  eject  scan- 
dalous and  ignorant  clergymen  from  the  ministry ! 
And  yet,  this  man  who  thus 

"  Groaned,  sighed,  and  prayed,  while  godliness  was  gain," 

afterwards  became  the  corrupt  and  facile  minister  of 
the  licentious  Charles  II. 

No  one  saw  with  clearer  perception,  or  keener 
glance,  the  true  nature  of  the  reaction  which  fol- 
lowed the  abdication  of  the  Protector  Richard  Crom- 
well, and  the  re-assembling  of  the  Long  Parliament. 
With  Gren.  Monk,  he  was  among  the  fitst  to  turn 
renegade  to  the  Commonwealth,  and  the  most  zealous 
for  the  Restoration.  Charles  II.,  on  coming  to  the 
throne,  rewarded  these  disinterested  services  by  be- 
stowing on  him  the  title,  Lord  Ashley,  and  appointing 
him  a  member  of  his  first  council  of  state.  But  the 
measure  of  Cooper's  infamy  was  filled  by  his  con- 
senting to  act  as  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed 
to  try  the  regicides,  and  others  excepted  by  the  act 
of  Parliament.  In  this  station  he  sat  in  judgment  on 
men  with  whom  he  had  formerly  acted,  and  who 
were  not  more  guilty  of  treason  than  he ;  and  among 
others,  his  old  associates  in  the  counsels  of  Cromwell, 
Carew   and    Gen.   Harrison.     Charles   rewarded   the 


CHAPTER  vn.  219 

venal  courtier  for  these  and  similar  services,  by 
creating  him  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  and  afterwards 
raising  him  to  the  dignity  of  lord  chancellor.  It  is 
remarkable,  says  the  historian  Hume,  that  this  man, 
whose  principles  and  conduct  were  in  all  other  re- 
spects so  exceptionable,  proved  an  excellent  chan- 
cellor ;  and  that  all  his  decrees,  while  he  possessed 
that  high  office,  were  equally  remarkable  for  justness 
and  for  integrity.  A  more  noble  and  manly  tribute 
is  paid  to  this  redeeming  feature  in  Shaftesbury's 
career  by  the  same  poetic  psn  whose  keen  satire  we 
have  just  quoted  : — 

"  Yet  fame  deserved  no  enemy  can  grudge, 
The  statesman  we  abhor,  but  praise  the  judge. 
In  Israel's  courts  ne'er  sat  an  Abethdin 
With  more  discerning  eyes,  or  hands  more  clean, 
Unbribed,  unbought,  the  wretched  to  redress ; 
Swift  of  despatch,  and  easy  of  access. 
Oh  !  had  he  been  content  to  serve  the  crown, 
With  virtues  only  proper  ta  the  gown, 
Or  had  the  rankness  of  the  soil  been  freed 
From  cockle  that  oppress'd  the  noble  seed, 
David  for  him  his  tuneful  harp  had  strung, 
And  heaven  had  wanted  one  immortal  song,'' 

The  genius  and  tact  oF  Shaftesbury  during  the  first 
years  of  Charles'  administration  were  thrown  entirely 
in  favor  of  the  court  and  the  royal  authority.  In 
1670,  he  became  one  of  the  five  ministers  of  the  king, 
known  by  the  name  of  the  "  Cabal,"  and  in  this  posi- 
tion he  applied  all  his  energies  to  the  service  of  his 
master  in  upholding  the  royal  prerogative,  and  in  re- 


220  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

ducing  the  people  to  subjection.  A  few  years  brought 
about  another  change.  Shaftesbury,  anticipating  the 
fall  of  his  party,  betrayed  the  king  and  the  court,  as  he 
had  betrayed  the  Parliament  and  the  Commonwealth. 
He  arose  in  his  place,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  to 
the  astonishment  of  all,  vehemently  opposed  one  of  his 
colleagues  in  the  Cabal,  the  Lord  Treasurer  Clifford, 
who  had  made  an  intemperate  speech  in  opposition  to 
some  measure  advocated  by  the  country  party,  and 
levelled  at  the  court,  especially  at  the  Duke  of 
York.  The  king  and  the  duke  were  both  spectators  of 
the  debate.  *'  What  a  knave  of  a  chancellor  have 
you  there  ?"  said  the  latter  as  he  left  the  House. 
**  And  you,  brother,"  answered  the  king,  "what  a 
fool  of  a  treasurer  have  you  given  me." 

From  this  period  Shaftesbury  sided  with  the  popu- 
lar party,  and  in  the  language  of  Dryden  : — 

"  Usurped  a  patriot's  all  atoning  name." 

So  vehement  and  dreaded  was  his  opposition  to  the 
court  that  the  king  dismissed  him  from  his  office  of 
chancellor.  In  1677,  he  made  himself  still  more  obnox- 
ious by  denying  the  legality  of  a  Parliament  assembled 
by  the  king.  For  this  offence  he  was  arrested  and  sent 
to  the  tower,  where,  after  a  year's  confinement,  he 
was  released  on  his  promised  submission.  On  the  rise 
of  the  country  party,  Shaftesbury  again  appeared  upon 
the  siirface.  In  the  council  which  Charles  called 
around  him  on  the  advice  of  Sir  William  Temple,  he 
was  made  president,  to  the  unbounded  joy  and  satis- 


CHAPTER  vn.  221 

faction  of  the  populace.  With  the  early  fail  of  that 
council,  Shaftesbury  again  fell,  and  at  once  entered 
deeply  into  the  confidence  and  intrigues  of  the  Duke 
of  Monmouth,  whom  he  flattered  with  the  hopes  of 
succeeding  to 'the  crown,  The  most  constant  pas- 
sions of  this  able  and  daring  man  were  hatred  and 
resentment.  Dryden  who  truly  described  him  as  the 
pilot 

"  Pleased  with  the  danger  when  the  waves  went  high," 

described  him  also  truly  as  a  man  "  implacable  in 
hate."  His  hatred  to  the  Duke  of  York  was  a  passion 
which  never  deserted  him.  Soon  after  his  removal  by 
the  king  as  President  of  the  Council,  Shaftesbury  had 
the  audacity  to  appear  in  Westminster  Hall,  with  Lord 
Russell  and  other  leaders  of  the  popular  party,  and 
present  the  duke  to  the  grand  jury  of  Middlesex  as  a 
popish  recusant.  The  chief  justice,  in  alarm,  sud- 
denly dismissed  the  jury,  but  Shaftesbury  accom- 
plished his  end  by  showing  that  between  him,  with 
his  friends  of  the  popular  party,  and  the  duke,  all 
accommodation  was  impossible.  From  this  time  he 
was  constantly  engaged  in  violent  opposition  to  the 
court,  and  in  plots  against  the  government.  Commit- 
ted a  second  time  to  the  tower,  the  court,  as  we  have 
seen,  attempted  to  indict  him  on  a  charge  of  treason ; 
but  a  whig  grand  jury  threw  out  the  indictment,  and 
the  prisoner  was  released  amid  the  acclamations  of  the 
citizens  of  London.  This  was  in  1681.  Soon  after 
the  king  was  seized  with  a  dangerous  sickness.   Shaftes- 


222  ALGEENOIT  SIDNEY. 

bury,  who  had  then  become  deeply  implicated  in  the 
projects  of  the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  entered  into  a 
conspiracy  to  rise  in  arms  in  case  of  the  king's  death, 
and  oppose  the  succession  of  the  Duke  of  York.  The 
king  recovered.  The  arbitrary  proceedings  of  the 
court  against  the  city  of  London  resulted  in  reducing 
the  metropolis  to  submission.  The  whig  sheriffs  were 
turned  out  of  office.  No  obstacle  now  remained  to 
Shaftesbury's  indictment.  He  lurked  about  the  city 
of  London  in  secrecy.  He  vainly  endeavored  to  urge 
upon  Lords  Essex,  Russell  and  Grrey,  his  plan  for  a 
general  insurrection  to  dethrone  the  king  and  to  crown 
the  Duke  of  Monmouth.  Disappointed  on  all  sides, 
disgusted  with  the  inactivity  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
popular  party,  alarmed  at  the  impending  danger  of  his 
situation,  he  suddenly  quitted  England  and  retired 
into  Holland,  where  he  soon  after  died  in  exile  and 
obscurity  .=^ 

We  have  seen  that  Shaftesbury  resolutely  attempted 
to  draw  into  his  own  plans  for  a  conspiracy,  Mon- 
mouth, Essex,  Russell,  and  Grrey,  but  without  success. 
Hitherto,  Sidney  had  kept  entirely  aloof  from  the 
councils  of  the  conspirators.  His  personal  distrust 
and  dislike  of  Shaftesbury  were  open  and  unconcealed. 
From  the  time  that  the  earl  had  accused  him  of  being 
a  spy  of  Sunderland  to  the  day  of  Shaftesbury's  volun- 

*  Lord  John  Russell  is  of  the  opinion  that  many  of  the  charges 
brought  against  Shaftesbury  were  unfounded,  and  that  much  injustice 
has  been  done  his  character.  See  his  reflections  on  Shaftesbury  in  the 
"Life  of  Lord  William  Russell." 


CHAPTER  vn.  223 

tary  banishment,  he  had  refused  to  have  any  inter- 
course with  him.  With  Monmouth  he  was  entirely 
unacquainted.  A  friend  of  Sidney,  Lord  Howard  of 
Escrick,  a  man  of  a  worthless  character  and  corrupt 
principles,  caused  Sidney  and  Monmouth  to  meet,  by 
pretending  to  Sidney  that  the  duke  was  desirous  to 
dine  with  him,  and  to  Monmouth  that  Sidney  wished 
to  meet  him  but  had  a  delicacy  in  courting  his  ac- 
quaintance. This  fraud  of  Howard  succeeded,  and 
Sidney  met  the  Duke  of  Monmouth.  With  the  ambi- 
tious projects  of  the  duke,  Sidney  had  no  connection 
and  no  sympathy.     It  was  immaterial  to  him  whether 

Monmouth  or  York  succeeded  to  the  crown  so  far  as 
the  question  of  royalty  was  concerned  ;  but  York  was 

intimately  associated  with  the  idea  of  popery  and 
absolute  power,  and  with  Monmouth  the  main  hope  of 
popular  liberty  seemed  to  rest.  Sidney,  therefore,  did 
not  hesitate,  after  Shaftesbury's  departure,  to  enter 
into  intimate  and  confidential  counsel  w^ith  Mon- 
mouth's friends  upon  the  best  means  of  averting  the 
public  dangers,  and  of  defending  the  liberties  and 
constitutional  rights  of  his  countrymen  against  the  in- 
sidious and  arbitrary  measures  of  the  court. 

With  Monmouth  himself  Sidney  never  was  intimate. 
Up  to  the  period  of  his  arrest,  he  had  spoken  to  him, 
he  says,  but  three  times  in  his  life.  With  the  noble* 
minded  Russell,  with  Essex,  a  sincere  and  ardent  lover 
of  liberty,  and  with  Hampden,  he  w^as  upon  terms  of 
friendship.  To  the  councils  of  these  men,  Monmouth 
after  he   had  been  released  from  his  connection  with 


224  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

Shaftesbury,  committed  himself,  and  there  is  no  evi- 
dence, certainly  none  worthy  of  credit,  that  anything 
treasonable  on  the  part  of  any  of  them  had  been 
meditated  or  resolved  upon,  at  least  after  the  de- 
parture of  Shaftesbury.  That  nobleman,  just  previous 
to  his  leaving  England,  had  so  far  implicated  Russell 
and  Essex,  as  to  procure  an  interview  between  them 
and  two  of  his  creatures,  Rumsey  and  Ferguson,  at 
the  house  of  a  wine  merchant,  named  Shepherd ;  and 
subsequently,  Shaftesbury  himself  met  Essex  and 
another  of  the  conspirators  at  the  same  place,  where 
the  plan  of  an  insurrection  was  discussed,  and  the 
project  of  surprising  the  king's  guards  mentioned. 
This  evidence  given  against  Russell  on  his  trial  was 
fatal  to  that  nobleman,  and  led  to  his  conviction. 
Sidney,  however,  was  entirely  unconnected  with,  and 
ignorant  of  the  conspiracy,  (if  indeed  it  is  deserv- 
ing the  name,)  until  after  the  soul  of  the  intrigue, 
Shaftesbury,  whom  he  so  heartily  despised,  had  left 
England. 

"What  was  the  precise  nature  of  the  conferences  be- 
tween Sidney  and  his  friends,  and  what  was  in  reality 
the  object  of  their  meetings,  it  is  difficult  to  say. 
The  evidence  rests  almost  exclusively  on  the  oath  of  the 
ingrate  and  triator.  Lord  Howard,  whom  Sidney  had 
so  indiscreetly  admitted  to  his  confidence.  Howard 
pretended  in  the  testimony  which  he  gave  on  Sidney's 
trial,  (of  which  w^e  shall  speak  more  in  detail  here- 
after) that  a  "  council  of  six"  was  formed  to  conduct 
an  "  enterprise, "the  nature  of  which  he  does  not  ex- 


CHAPTER  TTT.  225 

plain ;  that  this  council  consisted  of  the  Duke  of 
Monmouth,  the  Lords  Essex  and  Russell,  Col.  Sidney, 
Mr.  Hampden  and  himself ;  that  two  meetings  only 
were  held  at  which  Sidney  was  present — one  at  the 
house  of  Hampden,  and  the  other  at  Lord  Russell's  ; 
that  at  the  latter  meeting  there  seemed  to  be  a  diver- 
sity of  sentiment,  occasioned  by  a  remark  of  Hampden 
as  to  the  object  and  design  of  the  "  enterprise  ;"  that 
at  this  conference  the  Duke  spoke  of  raising  the  sum 
of  thirty  thousand  pounds,  and  Sidney  proposed  a 
messenger,  one  Aaron  Smith,  to  be  sent  with  a  letter, 
written,  as  Howard  believed,  by  Lord  Russell,  into 
Scotland.*  This  is  the  substance  of  the  direct  testi- 
mony which  connects  Sidney  with  this  "  conpsiracy" 
for  a  general  insurrection  to  overthrow  the  govern- 
ment and  kill  the  king.  It  will  be  observed  that  the 
whole  of  Howard's  statements  might  be  taken  as  true, 
without  making  out  a  case  to  convict  either  of  the  so 
called  conspirators  of  high  treason.  No  plan  of  action 
was  agreed  upon,  no  design  was  formed,  no  definite 
object  was  proposed  to  be  accomplished  ;  the  conspira- 
tors separated,  having  done  nothing,  and  agreed  upon 
nothing  ;  Russell  and  Hampden  to  indulge  their  warm 
aspirations  for  the  triumph  of  liberty  under  the  an- 
cient forms  of  the  constitution ;  Sidney  and  Essex 
to  speculate  upon  the  practicability  of  a  commonwealth; 

*  Howard  also  testifies  that  at  a  conference  between  himself,  Mon- 
mouth and  Sidney,  which  was  doubtless  the  first  interview  ever  had 
between  them,  at  the  day  of  the  (inner,  that  Monmouth  undertook  to 
bring  over  Lord  Russell,  and  Sidney  to  engage  Essex  and  Hampden  in 
the  enterprize. 

10* 


226  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

and    Monmouth   to   dream  of  his   succession  to  the 
throne. 

In  the  meantime  a  wilder  and  more  desperate  band 
of  conspirators — the  creatures  of  Shaftesbury — were 
engaged  in  planning  what  was  afterwards  more  fami- 
liarly known  as  the  *'  Rye-house  Plot."  Of  these 
subordinate  conspirators,  the  principal  were  Col.  Rum- 
sey,  an  old  republican  officer,  West,  a  lawyer.  Keeling, 
a  Salter,  Ferguson  and  Rumbold.  Their  design  was, 
undoubtedly,  insurrection.  The  project  of  assassinat- 
ing the  king  and  the  Duke  of  York,  and  of  thus  mak- 
ing way  for  Monmouth  to  the  throne,  was  freely  dis- 
cussed among  them  ;  and  it  is  said  that  Monmouth 
and  Howard  were  not  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  this 
subordinate  conspiracy  and  of  their  wild  designs, 
though  it  is  not  pretended  that  the  knowledge  was 
shared  by  any  others  of  the  **  Council  of  six."  Rum- 
bold  had  a  farm  called  the  Rye-house,  on  the  road  to 
Newmarket,  whither  the  king  and  the  duke  com- 
monly went  for  diversion  once  a  year.  The  project 
was  discussed  among  the  conispirators  of  stopping  the 
king's  coach  at  this  place,  and  of  assassinating  him 
and  the  duke  ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  this  wicked 
and  desperate  scheme  was  ever  fully  resolved  on. 
The  whole  plot,  however,  was  soon  betrayed  to  the 
government  by  Keiling,  one  of  the  conspirators.  The 
secretary  of  state  paid  little  regard  to  it,  till  West 
and  Rumsey  offered  to  purchase  their  worthless  lives 
by  turning  king's  evidence,  and  fully  corroborated  in 
every  particular  the  story  of  Keiling.     When  Rumsey 


CHAPTER  vn.  227 

surrendered  himself  as  a  witness  (who,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, had  been  present  with  Ferguson  at  the  first 
meeting  at  Shepherd's)  the  Duke  of  Monmouth  at 
once  took  the  alarm,  and  retired  from  England.  The 
city  was  now  full  cf  rumors.  Sidney's  name  was  in 
every  coffee  house  as  connected  with  the  plot.  He 
was  informed  that  the  government  meditated  his 
arrest,  and  on  inquiring  .the  reason,  was  told  of  the 
allegations  made  by  these  men,  with  not  one  of  whom 
he  had  the  slightest  acquaintance.  Sidney  disbelieved 
the  report ;  bat  his  informant  urged  upon  him  that  an 
occasion  would  certainly  be  found  to  arrest  him,  and 
that  if  once  arrested  he  could  not  possibly  escape  con- 
viction from  such  judges  and  juries  as  the  court  was 
determined  to  employ.  But  Sidney,  conscious  of  his 
own  innocence,  disregarded  the  admonition,  and  de-- 
termined  to  remain  \vhere  he  was,  even  after  he  heard 
that  the  Duke  of  Monmouth  had  retired. 

West  and  Keiling  could  give  no  evidence  against" 
any  of  the  Council  of  six.  Rumsey  was,  with  diffi- 
culty, brought  to  mention  the  meeting  at  Shepherd's, 
at  which  Russell  and  Essex  attended.  Shepherd  was 
arrested  and  confirmed  the  account;  yet  against  Sid- 
ney and  Hampden  there  was  no  evidence,  except 
vague  reports,  or  such  loose  information  as  Rumsey 
himself  had  gained  from  Monmouth  and  Howard,  or 
such  statements  as  he  chose  wilfully  to  fabricate. 
The  government,  however,  determined  to  arrest  all  the 
pretended  conspirators.  Monmouth  had  taken  timely 
flight,  Grray  escaped  from  his  guards.    Essex,  Russell, 


228  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

and  Hampden  were  thrown  into  prison,  and  Howard 
himself  was  seized  while  attempting  to  conceal  him- 
self in  a  chimney. 

On  the  morning  of  Sidney's  arrest,  the  26th  Jane, 
1683,  he  was  engaged  in  his  usual  studies,  and  in 
receiving  the  visits  of  his  friends.  So  entirely  con- 
scious was  he  of  his  own  personal  innocence,  and  so 
far  removed  did  he  feel  himself  to  be  from  every  thing 
that  could  implicate  him  in  a  plot  against  the  king, 
knowing  the  prudence  that  had  kept  him  aloof  from 
all  intercourse  and  conversation  with  those  who  were 
disaffected  to  the  government,  save  the  friends  in 
whose  honor  he  confided,  that  he  entertained  no  ap- 
prehensions for  his  own  safety.  "While  at  dinner  on 
that  day,  he  was  arrested  by  an  order  from  the  Privy 
Council  in  the  king's  name.  Soon  after  a  second 
order  arrived  to  secure  his  papers.  After  ransacking 
the  house  and  finding  nothing  in  any  place  of  con- 
cealment, the  officer  took  into  his  possession  some 
manuscripts  which  lay  upon  the  table,  and  in  an  open 
trunk  beside  it.  Sidney  was  desired  to  put  his  seal  on 
the  packet  after  it  was  enclosed,  but  he  refused,  re- 
membering, as  he  says,  "  what  had  passed  on  a  similar 
occasion,  and  not  knowing  what  might  have  been  put 
in."  The  officer  thereupon  put  his  own  seal  to  the 
package,  and  promised  Sidney  that  it  should  not  be 
opened  except  in  his  presence.  This  was  the  last  he  ever 
saw  of  the  papers  until  their  production  on  his  trial. 

On  being  brought  before  the  privy  council,  Sidney 
answered  some  of  the  questions  put  to  him  "respect- 


CHAPTER  m,  229 

fully  and  without  deceit ;"  but  on  being  further 
pressed,  he  replied,  that  "if  they  had  any  proof 
against  him  he  was  ready  to  vindicate  his  conduct,  but 
that  otherwise  he  would  not  fortify  their  evidence." 
Although  there  was  not  the  shadow  of  evidence 
against  him  beyond  vague  rumors  and  hearsay,  and 
nothing  whatever  to  justify  his  imprisonment,  he  was 
arbitrarily,  committed  to  the  tower  on  a  charge  of  high 
treason  ! 

For  some  time  Sidney  was  kept  a  close  prisoner. 
His  money,  and  other  property,  even  to  his  wearing* 
apparel,  were  seized.  His  friends  were  not  permitted 
to  see  him,  and  his  servants  prevented  from  carrying 
him  a  change  of  linen.  Even  his  faithful  servant, 
Joseph  Ducasse,  was  denied  access  to  him,  until,  ap- 
plying to  Lord  Halifax,  he  obtained  a  reluctant  per- 
mission to  attend  and  visit  him.  So  rigorous  was  his 
confinement,  that  it  began  to  affect  his  health,  but  he 
bore  up  under  it  with  unflinching  fortitude  and  spirit. 
The  government  was  no  doubt  satisfied  of  the  unlaw- 
fulness of  his  imprisonment,  and  of  the  weakness  of 
its  evidence  ;  but  determining  to  bring  him  to  the 
scaffold,  it  employed  various  artifices  to  procure  the 
requisite  testimony.  A  committee  of  the  privy  coun- 
cil waited  upon  him  in  the  tower,  hoping  to  derive 
matter  of  accusation  from  his  own  confessions.  Sid- 
ney answered  haughtily,  and  with  more  than  his  natu- 
ral acerbity  of  temper,  that  "  they  seemed  to  want 
evidence,  and  were  come  to  draw  it  from  his  own 
mouth ;  but  they  should  have  nothing  from  him."     It 


230  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

is  slated,  and  doubtless  with  truth,  that  the  prisons 
were  ransacked,  and  threats  and  persuasions  ennployed 
among  the  prisoners  to  induce  them  to  furnish  evi- 
dence against  him.  Aaron  Smith,  the  messenger 
whom  Howard  alleged  had  been  sent  into  Scotland  by 
Sidney,  and  who  was  now  in  custody,  on  being  tam- 
pered with  by  some  of  the  agents  of  the  government, 
who  desired  Smith  to  propose  his  own  terms  for  reveal- 
ing testimony  which  might  suit  their  purpose,  frankly 
replied,  'Uhat  he  could  not  say  anything  that  would 
touch  a  hair  of  Col.  Sidney's  head."  The  same  poor 
success  met  the  efforts  of  the  court  in  other  quarters. 
At  length,  however,  a  witness  appeared. 

The  notorious  Howard  had  been  arrested  on  the  8th 
of  July.  Overcome  by  the  fear  of  death,  the  craven 
wretch  did  not  hesitate  to  follow  the  base  example  of 
Eumsey,  West,  and  Keiling,  and  to  purchase  his  life 
by  offering  his  evidence  against  the  illustrious  prisoners 
in  the  tower.  Some  of  the  "  Rye-house"  conspirators 
were  convicted  on  the  evidence  of  the  three  informers. 
West,  Rumscy,  and  Keiling,  and  were  executed  the 
20th  of  July.  The  court,  however,  was  not  satisfied 
with  this  puny  vengeance,  but  resolved  upon  the 
sacrifice  of  noble  victim^.  Accordingly,  about  the 
same  time.  Lord  Russell  was  brought  to  trial.  With 
the  aid  of  the  testimony  of  Howard,  before  a  court 
and  a  jury  entirely  under  the  royal  influence,  Russell 
was  easily  convicted  and  condemned.  His  wife, 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  threw  herself 
at  the  king's  feet,  and  pleaded  in  vain  for  pardon. 


CHAPTER   YII.  231 

Once  condemned,  such  a  victim  was  too  agreeable  to 
the  court,  and  particularly  to  the  vindictive  feelings 
of  the  Duke  of  York,  whose  resolute  enemy  he  had 
always  been,  to  expect  mercy.  The  pardon  was  re- 
fused him.  The  touching  scene  in  the  tower — the 
parting  of  the  condemned  from  his  devoted  wife  and 
infant  children,  nearly  overcame  the  manly  fortitude 
of  the  prisoner  ;  but  he  quickly  recovered  it,  and  as  he 
turned  away  after  the  last  embrace,  he  exclaimed, 
"  The  bitterness  of  death  is  now  past."  For  him  the 
scaffold  and  the  block  had  no  terrors.  On  the  21st  of 
July,  1683,  Russell  was  beheaded  in  Lincoln's  Inn 
fields.      He  died  in  the  forty-second  year  of  his  age.* 

=*  Lord  Russell,  whose  name  is  so  gloriously  associated  with  that  of 
Sidney,  was  the  third,  and  onl}'  surviving  son  of  the  Duke  o^ Bedford, 
and  w^as  heir  to  the  most  splendid  fortune  in  the  kingdom.  Bishop 
Burnet  observes  that  he  was  a  man  of  a  slow  but  a  sound  understanding. 
Even  his  enemies  admitted  the  sincerity  of  his  character,  his  unim- 
peachable private  worth,  and  the  purity  of  his  motives.  His  political 
sentiments  were  liberal  in  the  extreme,  but,  like  those  of  Hampden,  not 
revolutionary.  He  desired  to  preserve  the  ancient  forms  of  the  monar- 
chy, but  to  establish  constitutional  liberty  on  its  broadest  basis  ;  and  he 
therefore  opposed  with  all  the  energy  of  his  nature  the  Duke  of  York, 
and  zealously  labored  to  exclude  him  from  the  throne.  Russell  had 
represented  the  county  of  Bedford  in  all  the  parliaments  of  Charles  II. ; 
and  so  great  was  his  influence,  and  so  wide-spread  his  popularity  among 
all  classes  of  the  people,  that  he  was  justly  regarded  as  the  head  of  the 
liberal  party.  We  have  seen  that  he  was  one  of  the  council  appointed 
by  the  king  at  the  recommendation  of  Sir  W.  Temple.  He  accom- 
panied Shaftesbury  to  Westminster  Hall  when  that  nobleman  presented 
the  Duke  of  York  to  the  grand  jury  as  a  Popish  recusant ;  and  a  few 
months  after  he  carried  up  the  Exclusion  bill  to  the  House  of  Lords  at 
the  head  of  two  hundred  members  of  Parliament.  The  proof  of  treason, 
on  his  trial,  was  confined  to  the  interviews  at  Shepherd's  and  elsewhere, 


232  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

On  the  very  day  of  Russell's  trial,  Essex  was  found 
dead,  with  his  throat  cut,  in  the  tower.  He  was  a 
man  of  elevated  and  estimable  character,  whose 
views  of  popular  liberty  coincided  nearer  with  Sid- 
ney's than  with  those  of  any  of  his  other  associates. 
The  only  remaining  members  of  the  Council  of  six, 
who  remained  in  the  power  of  the  king,  were  Sidney 
and  Hampden,  and  it  was  determined  to  bring  them 
to  trial.  The  difficulty  attending  the  procuring  of  evi- 
dence sufficient  to  convict  them,  was  a  formidable  ob- 
stacle, and  long  delayed  the  proceeding.  Howard  was 
indeed  ready  to  swear  awa^y  the  lives  of  his  other 
associates,  as  he  had  done  the  life  of  Russell ;  but 
the  crown  lawyers  were  aware  that  the  single  and 
unsupp'orted  oath  of  such  a  witness  was  hazardous  in 
any  criminal  case,  unless  with  a  jury  composed  en- 
tirely of  the  creatures  of  the  court.  Besides,  another 
difficulty,  almost  insuperable,  existed.  By  the  statute 
of  treasons,  under  which  it  was  proposed  to  indict  the 
prisoners,  there  could  be  no  conviction  unless  on  the 

already  spoken  of,  and  the  law  was  shamefully  perverted  to  his  destruc- 
tion. Hume  himself  admits  the  proof  to  have  been  "  that  the  insurrec- 
tion had  been  deliberated  on  by  the  prisoner;  the  surprisal  of  the 
guards  deliberated,  but  not  fully  resolved  upon ;  and  that  the  assassi- 
nation of  the  king  had  not  been  once  mentioned  or  imagined  by  him.'* 
The  best  authorities  concur  in  the  opinion  that  his  condemnation  wa.« 
illegal,  and  it  was  on  this  ground  that  his  attainder  was  subsequently  re- 
versed by  act  of  Parliament.  Russell's  nobleness  of  mind  was  exhibit 
ed  to  the  last  in  his  declining  the  generous  offer  of  his  friend  Lord 
Cavendish,  to  favor  his  escape  by  exchanging  clothes ;  and  also  the  pro- 
posal of  the  Duke  of  Monmouth  to  deliver  himself  up  if  he  thought 
the  step  would  be  serviceable  to  him.  "  It  will  be  no  advantage  to 
me,"  he  said,  "  to  have  my  friends  die  with  me." 


CHAPTER  vn.  233 

oaths  of  two  concurring  witnesses  to  some  overt  act. 
In  the  case  of  Hampden,  it  was  found  impossible  to 
obviate  this  difficulty,  as  Howard  was  the  only  wit- 
ness who  could  in  the  slightest  degree  implicate  him. 
Yet,  even  Hampden  could  not  entirely  escape  the  ven- 
geance of  the  court,  or  rather  of  the  Duke  of  York. 
After  some  length  of  time  he  was  tried  for  a  mis- 
demeanor,  convicted  on  the  testimony  of  Howard, 
and  sentenced  to  pay  a  ruinous  fine — no  less  than 
forty  thousand  pounds  sterling.  His  whole  fortune 
was  insufficient  for  this  purpose,  and  he  was  com- 
mitted to  prison.* 

The  case  of  Sidney  in  reality  stood  upon  precisely 
the  same  ground.  He  was  no  more  and  no  less 
guilty  than  Hampden,  and  there  was  not  a  particle 
more  of  legal  evidence  against  him  ;  yet,  nothing 
but  his  life  would  satiate  the  vengeance  of  his  royal 
enemies,  and  it  was  therefore  resolved  to  bring  him  to 
trial  for  high  treason.  We  shall  presently  see,  when 
we  come  to  speak  of  his  trial,  the  nature  of  the  ad- 
ditional proof  that  was  adduced  against  him,  and  the 
astonishing  audacity  of  the  prosecution  in  offering  it. 
The  chief  justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  who  tried  Lord 
Russell,  was  now  dead.  He  had  been  succeeded  by 
Sir  G-eorge  Jeffries,  on  the  29th  September,  1683. 
The  city  of  London  had  ceased  to  elect  whig  sheriffs, 
these  officers  being  now  selected  by  the  court.  Daniel 
and   Dash  wood,  two  of  the  most  violent  partisans  of 

*  Hampden  actually  paid  £6,000  of  this  fine,  and  \ras  released  from 
prison. 


234:  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

the  king,  had  been  appointed  sheriffs  of  London  and 
Middlesex  by  a  commission  under  the  great  seal. 
They  named  Rouse  and  Hargrave,  equally  subser- 
vient tools  and  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  Crown, 
under-sheriffs.  All  things  were  now  prepared  for  the 
sacrifice  of  Sidney,  and  the  Crown  lawyers  at  length 
deemed  it  safe  to  bring  on  the  trial.  Jeffries  himself 
actually  consulted  with  the  counsel  for  the  Crown  on 
the  means  of  compassing  the  prisoner's  death,  and  a 
paper  containing  the  result  of  the  conference  had  been 
found  on  the  attorney-general's  table.  The  prelimin- 
aries,  therefore,  being  finally  arranged,  on  the  6th  of 
November,  after  more  than  four  months  imprison- 
ment, Sidney  was  informed  by  the  lieutenant  of  the 
tower  that  he  had  received  orders  to  bring  him,  the 
next  day,  by  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  before  the  King's 
Bench,  at  Westminster  Hall. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Arraignment  of  Sidney — Lord  Jeffries  and  his  associates — Sidney  excepts 
to  the  indictment— His  exceptions  overruled — Oppressive  conduct  of 
the  Court— Sidney  forced  to  plead  to  the  indictment  and  remanded  to 
prison — Appears  at  the  bar  of  the  King's  Bench  for  trial —Means  takea 
to  secure  his  conviction — Selection  and  character  of  the  jury — The 
judge  refuses  him  a  challenge — Sidney  demands  counsel  and  is  refused 
— The  trial — Oppressive  and  tyrannical  conduct  of  the  Court— The 
evidence — Its  insufficient  nature— Objections  of  Sidney — They  are 
overruled  by  the  Court — Lord  Howard  of  Escrick — His  character — 
His  evidence— Testimony  of  Foster  and  Atterbiiry — The  writings  of 
Sidney  introduced  in  evidence — Defence  of  the  prisoner — His  objec- 
tions overruled  by  the  Court — He  introduces  testimony — Impeachment 
of  Lord  Howard — Contest  with  the  Court — Brutal  conduct  of  Jeffries 
— Sidney's  argument  .to  the  jury — Speech  of  the  Solicitor-General — 
Charge  of  the  Judge — Verdict  of  the  jury — Surrender  of  the  Duke  of 
Monmouth  after  the  trial — Hopes  of  a  new  trial — Petition  of  Sidney 
to  the  king — Its  failure — Sentence  of  Sidney ^Scene  between  the  pris- 
oner and  the  Court — Heroic  conduct  of  Sidney — Condemned  to  be 
executed — Petition  of  Sidney  to  the  king  to  commute  his  sentence  to 
banishment— Is  refused — His  fortitude  and  resolution  in  his  last  hours 
— Description  of  his  execution  by  the  sheriff — Is  beheaded — Buried  at 
Penshurst — Reflections  upon  his  trial,  condemnation,  and  executidn. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  1683,  Col.  Sidney  was 
arraigned  for  high  treason  before  the  Kiug's  Bench  in 
Westminster  Hall.     The  infamous  Sir  George  Jeffries, 


236  ALGERNON  SIDNET. 

lord  chief  justice,  presided  on  the  bench,  assisted 
by  his  associate  justices,  Wythins,  Holloway,  and 
"Walcott. 

It  is  diifficult  to  find  in  the  history  of  any  civilized 
people,  a  character  more  loathsome  than  that  of  Jef- 
fries. In  early  life  he  had  practiced  at  the  Old 
Bailey  ;  had  afterwards  become  a  serjeant-at-law,  and 
been  subsequently  made  Recorder  of  London.  Nature 
had  endowed  him  with  a  quick  and  ready  talent,  and 
some  of  the  attributes  of  an  able  judge.  His  percep- 
tive powers  were  acute,  and  his  intellect,  when  not 
unsettled  by  strong  drink,  singularly  clear,  enabling 
him  at  a  glance  to  comprehend,  and  to  carry  out  to 
the  very  letter,  the  v/ork  that  his  master  prepared  for 
him.  Yet  Jeffries,  notwithstanding  the  possession  of 
some  legal  ability,  was  utterly  unfit  and  unworthy,  in 
character,  in  talents,  and  in  habits,  to  occupy  the 
place  he  filled.  A  violent,  shameless,  cruel,  vindictive 
man,  a  renegade  and  traitor  to  every  principle,*  the 
slave  of  the  vilest  sensual  passions,  a  debauchee 
and  a  common  drunkard,  a  demon  incarnate,  whose 
hands  were  polluted  with  gold  and  stained  with  the" 
blood  of  innocence.  The  imagination  can  scarcely 
conceive  a  character  so  execrably  base  as  that  of  this 
corrupt  and  wicked  judge. 

Only  a  month  or  two  before  Sidney's  trial,  Charles 
had  rewarded  Jeffries'  valuable  services  by  promoting 
him  to  the  seat  he  disgraced  ;  but  Charles  himself  was 

*  Jeffries  once  passed  himself  off  as  a  "  Round-head." — Macatday's 
History  of  England* 


CHAPTER  Vm. 


237 


at  the  same  time  sensible  of  his  baseness.  "  That 
man,"  said  he,  "  has  no  learning,  no  sense,  no  man- 
ners, and  more  impudence  than  ten  carted  street- 
walkers." But  the  Chief  Justice  found  a  congenial 
spirit  in  the  Duke  of  York,  who,  when  he  afterwards 
came  to  the  throne,  was  so  highly  delighted  with 
Jeffries'  services,  that  as  a  peculiar  mark  of  the  royal 
favor,  he  conferred  upon  him  a  peerage,  gave  him  a 
seat  in  the  cabinet,  and  created  him  Lord  Chancellor 
of  England ! 

The  judicial  murder  of  Sidney  was  the  first  notable 
exploit  of  the  Chief  Justice  after  his  elevation,  as  it 
was,  undoubtedly,  one  of  the  most  ingenious  of  his 
whole  life.  Other  and  more  brutal  triumphs  followed 
him  in  his  subsequent  blood-stained  career.  "When 
he  had  become  more  familiar  with  his  position,  and 
placed  a  surer  reliance  on  the  power  that  sustained 
him,  he  was  accustomed  in  the  fury  of  brutal  passion, 
or  maudlin  rage,  to  terrify  his  juries  into  a  verdict  of 
guilty.  Twice  was  the  lady  Lisle  brought  in  by  the 
jury  acquitted  of  the  charge  preferred  against  her,  but 
a  third  time  was  the  jury  sent  out  under  a  furious 
speech  from  the  judge,  and  finally  by  threats  and  vio- 
lence compelled  to  convict  the  victim.  *'  Why,  thou 
vile  wretch  !"  he  exclaimed  to  one  of  the  witnesses  on 
this  trial — "  Dos't  thou  think  because  thou  preva- 
ricatest  with  the  court  here,  that  thou  cans't  do  so 
with  God  above,  who  knows  thy  thoughts  ?  And  it 
is  infinite  mercy  that  with  those  falsehoods  of  thine 
he  does  not  strike  thee  into  hell !     Jesus  God  !  there 


238  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

is  no  conversation  or  human  society  to  be  kept  with 
such  people  as  these  are,  who  have  no  religion  but 
in  pretence." 

Feats  like  the  conviction  of  the  lady  Lisle,  how- 
ever, were  not  achieved  by  Jeffries  until  some  time 
after  the  trial  of  Sidney.  He  was  now  comparatively 
a  novice,  and  resortecl  to  artifice  and  cunning  to  ac- 
complish the  nefarious  purposes  of  the  government ; 
and  surely  none  of  his  achievements  was  performed 
with  more  clever  dexterity  than  this,  and  no  man  was 
ever  juggled  out  of  his  life  more  coolly,  under  the 
falsest  pretences,  than  Algernon  Sidney. 

By  the  side  of  the  Chief  Justice  sat  three  men  of 
straw.  Wy thins,  like  Jeffries,  was  a  debauchee  and 
a  drunkard  ;  was  drunk  on  the  bench  during  the  pro- 
ceedings, and  gave  Sidney  the  lie  in  open  court.  Hol- 
ioway  and  "Walcott  were  also  creatures  of  the  court, 
but  said  little  on  the  trial.  They  of  course  concurred 
in  all  Jeffries'  decisions,  and  Justice  Holloway,  at  one 
stage  of  the  proceedings,  insulted  the  prisoner  with 
the  remark,  "  I  think  you  have  had  a  very  fair  trial." 
"Well  might  Sidney  say  of  judges  like  these,  after  a 
calm  review  of  his  trial,  "  Lest  the  means  of  destroy- 
ing the  best  Protestants  in  England  should  fail,  the 
bench  must  be  filled  by  such  as  had  been  blemishes  to 
the  barP 

It  seems  that  Sidney  was  brought  up  from  the 
tower  at  an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  before  it  was 
known  there  was  any  indictment  against  him,  and 
that  he  was  detained  at  a  tavern  about  an  hour,  until 


CHAPTER  Yin.  289 

the  bill  was  found.  On  his  being  brought  to  the  bar, 
the  attorney-general,  Sir  Robert  Sawyer,  informed  the 
court  that  there  was  an  indictnnent  against  the  pri- 
soner, and  prayed  he  might  be  charged  with  it.  The 
clerk  of  the  Crown  then  directed  him  to  hold  up  his 
hand,  which  he  did,  and  the  indictment  was  read  to 
him.  It  was  long,  confused,  and  perplexed,  so  much 
so,  that  the  ablest  lawyers  could  give  him,  from  recol- 
lection, but  a  very  imperfect  account  of  its  contents. 
It  alleged  a  variety  of  crimes,  distinct  in  their  nature, 
relating  to  different  statutes,  and  distinguished  from 
each  other  by  law  ;  setting  forth  no  overt  act  of  trea- 
son precisely,  no  person  with  whom  he  had  conspired, 
and  fixing  on  the  20th  of  June,  when  he  was  actually 
a  prisoner,  as  the  medium  time  of  his  conspiring  in 
the  parish  of  St.  Giles  in  the  field.* 

When  the  reading  was  finished,  Sidney  took  excep- 
tions to  the  indictment.  This  he  did  in  person,  the 
law  of  England  at  that  time  not  permitting  the 
prisoner  the  benefit  of  counsel  at  his  trial,  unless  upon 
the  argument  of  some  point  of  law,  in  which  case  the 
court  assigned  counsel.  But  the  Chief  Justice  would 
not  listen  to  his  exceptions,  and  peremptorily  required 
him  to  plead  guilty  or  not  guilty.  The  attorney 
general  interposed  : 

"  If  he  will  demur,  my  lord,  we  will  give  him 
leave." 

Col,  Sidney. — "I  presume  your  lordship  will  direct 
me,  for  I  am  an  ignorant  man  in  matters  of  this 
*  Meadley's  Memoirs.     State  Trials. 


240  ALGEENOK  SIDITET. 

kind.  I  may  be  easily  surprised  in  it.  I  never  was 
at  a  trial  in  my  life,  of  any  body,  and  never  read  a 
law  book." 

Jeffries. — "  Because  no  prisoner  in  your  circum- 
stances is  to  have  counsel  but  in  special  cases  to  be 
assigned  in  matters  of  law,  the  court  is  bound  by  their 
oaths,  and  duty  of  their  places,  that  they  shall  not  see 
any  wrong  done  to  you  ;  but  the  business  we  are  to 
tell  you  now  is,  you  are  to  plead  guilty  or  not  guilty, 
or  demur,  which  is  a  concession,  in  point  of  law." 

How  the  infamous  judge  kept  his  pledge  of  seeing 
no  wrong  done  the  prisoner,  we  shall  presently  see. 

Meanwhile  Sidney,  still  refusing  to  plead  not  guilty, 
or  demur,  urged  his  exceptions  to  the  indictment,  and 
instanced  the  case  of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  in  which  such 
a  course  had  been  allowed.  But  the  Chief  Justice  was 
peremptory,  and  again  urged  him  to  take  his  trial 
upon  the  indictment,  thus  waiving  all  objection  to  its 
sufficiency.  Sidney  then  presenting  a  piece  of  parch- 
ment, which  proved  to  be  a  special  plea,  drawn  up  by 
Sergeant  Rotheram,  who,  with  Pollexfen  and  one  or 
two  others,  had  been  assigned  by  order  of  the  Earl  of 
Sunderland  to  assist  him  in  preparing  for  his  trial, 
desired  the  Chief  Justice  to  accept  it.  Jeffries  inquired 
what  it  was,  adding  that  if  a  special  plea,  and  the 
attorney-general  demurred  to  it,  the  prisoner  waived 
the  fact  and  would  have  judgment  of  death  without  a 
trial  !  This  was  false,  and  the  judge  knew  it.  Had 
the  plea  been  put  in  and  found  to  be  good,  it  would 
have  had  the  effect   of    relieving   the   prisoner  from 


CHAPTER  V.  241 

answering  an  indictment  containing  several  distinct 
offences,  relating  to  different  statutes,  and  purposely- 
blended  together,  doubtless,  with  the  veiw  of  entrapping 
him  and  obtaining  an  unfair  advantage.  If  the  plea 
had  been  overruled  and  the  indictment  held  good,  still 
the  prisoner  might  have  been  admitted  to  plead  not 
guilty,  and  put  upon  his  trial.  Any  one  versed  in  law 
knowledge  knew  such  to  be  the  fact,  and  yet  Mr. 
Justice  Wythins  did  not  hesitate  to  endorse  the  lie  of 
the  Chief  Justice,  and  when  Col.  Sidney  informed  tho 
court  that  the  parchment  was  a  plea,  Wythins  ex- 
claimed, "Will  you  stand  by  it?  Consider  yourself 
and  your  life.  If  you  put  in  that  plea,  and  the 
attorney  demurs,  if  your  plea  he  not  good,  your  life 
is  gone  .'" 

Sidney  was  staggered  by  these  remarks.  He  be- 
lieved his  plea  to  be  good,  but  he  had  more  confidence 
in  the  merits  of  his  case,  and  hesitated  to  incur  the 
risk  of  being  cut  off  from  his  defence.  He  asked  the 
court  for  a  day  to  consider,  but  the  Chief  Justice 
roughly  refused  it,  not  choosing  to  give  him  the  benefit 
of  advising  with  his  counsel,  but  wishing  to  entrap 
him  through  his  own  ignorance  of  the  law.  He  then 
asked  that  his  paper  might  be  received,  not  as  a  plea, 
but  as  an  exception  to  the  indictment.  The  Chief 
Justice,  whose  brutal  passions  were  now  fast  kindling 
into  rage,  replied  :  "It  shall  not  be  read,  unless  you 
put  it  in  as  a  plea." 

Williams,  one  of  his  legal  advisers,  here  whispered 
to  him  to  put  in  his  plea,  but  the  attorney -general  A0V7 
11 


242  ALGERNOIT  SIDXET. 

alarmed  at  the  turn  matters  were  taking,  called  upon 
the  court  to  reprove  Williams  for  daring  to  inform  the 
prisoner  of  his  rights ;  whereupon  Williams  was  pub- 
licly reprimanded  from  the  bench  ! 

Sidney,  however,  refused  to  risk  the  consequences 
which  Jeffries  and  Wy thins  had  falsely  assured  him 
would  follow  a  failure  of  his  plea,  and  he  merely 
offered  it  again  as  an  exception  to  the  bill.  The  clerk 
was  thereupon  directed  to  ask  him  the  customary 
question :  ''  Art  thou  guilty,  or  not  guilty."  Sidney 
still  declining  to  answer,  Jeffries  threatened  him  with 
instant  judgment  in  case  he  did  not  plead.  Driven 
thus  to  the  inevitable  necessity,  as  he  truly  declared, 
by  the  violence  and  fraud  of  the  Chief  Justice,  Sidney 
reluctantly  plead  not  guilty,  and  thus  "lost  the  ad- 
vantage which  was  never  to  be  recovered,  unless  the 
judges  could  have  been  changed."* 

The  accused  then  desired  a  copy  of  the  indictment. 
Jeffries  replied  that  it  could  not  be  granted  by  law. 

The  prisoner  then  asked  if  the  court  '*  would  please 
to  give  him  counsel." 

Lord  Chief  Justice. — '' We  can't  do  it.t  If  you 
assign  us  any  particular  point  of  law,  if  the  Court 
think  it  such  a  point  as  may  be  worth  the  debating^ 

*  Apology. 

t  These  severe  and  unjust  rules  of  the  common  law  were  abolished 
after  the  Revolution.  By  the  statutes,  7  W.  3.  c.  3,  and  7  Ann  c.  21, 
the  prisoner  is  entitled  to  a  copy  of  the  indictment  ten  days  before  the 
trial,  with  a  list  of  the  jury  and  of  the  witnesses  on  the  part  of  the 
prosecution :  Also,  to  have  two  counsel  assigned  hum  by  whom  ha 
may  have  a  full  defence. 


CHAPTER  vm.  243 

you  shall  have  counsel,  but  if  you  ask  for  counsel 
for  no  other  reason  than  because  you  ask  it,  we  must; 
not  grant  it.  The  court  is  bound  to  see  that  nothing 
be  done  asrainst  vou  but  what  is  accordinsf  to  the  rules 
of  law.  I  would  be  very  loth  to  draw  the  guilt  of 
any  man^s  blood  upon  wze." 

So  spake  the  corrupt  and  depraved  judge  who  had 
already  taken  the  first  step  toward  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  judicial  murder,  and  who  was  subse- 
quently steeped  to  the  lips  in  the  blood  of  innocence. 

The  indictment  was  read  over  again,  and  in  Latin, 
a  particular  favor,  as  Jeffries  afterwards  informed  the 
prisoner,  and  a  favor,  too,  which  had  been  denied  Sir 
Henry  Vane  on  his  trial.  This  insignificant  favor 
of  the  chief  justice  was  more  dangerous  to  the  pris- 
oner than  could  have  been  a  refusal  of  the  request. 
It  enabled  Jeffries,  under  the  pretence  of  having 
granted  a  favor^  to  deny  the  most  important  rights. 
Accordingly,  when  Sidney  requested  to  be  informed 
under  what  statute  of  treason  he  was  to  be  tried,  in 
order  to  enable  him  to  prepare  his  defence,  the  Chief 
Justice  gruffly  replied,  that  the  attorney-general  would 
tell  him  what  statute  he  went  upon  when  he  came  to 
trial,  and  that  he  might  give  in  evidence  any  act  of 
Parliament  which  comprehended  treason.  Sidney  was 
then  notified  that  his  trial  would  take  place  that  day 
fortnight,  after  which,  in  custody  of  the  lieutenant,  he 
was  carried  back  to  the  tower. 

On    the  21st   of  November,   two  weeks  after  the 
scene  just  described,  Col.  Sidney  was  brought  to  the 


24:4  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

bar  of  the  king's  bench  for  trial.  The  attorney-gen- 
eral, Sir  Robert  Sawyer,  the  solicitor-general,  Hene- 
age  Finch,  and  several  other  enciinent  lawyers,  ap- 
peared as  counsel  for  the  Crown.  Against  this  Ijrmi- 
dable  array  of  legal  talent,  the  prisoner  stood  friend- 
less and  alone.  He  stood  where,  but  a  few  years  be- 
fore, Vane  had  stood  ;  where,  but  a  few  months  before, 
Russell  had  stood,  a  martyr  with  them  to  the  liberties 
of  his  country,  and  with  them  about  to  seal  with  his 
blood  his  devotion  to  the  principles  he  professed. 
From  the  first,  it  was  easy  to  be  seen  that  the  accus- 
ed, like  Yane,  had  been  singled  out,  with  cool  premed- 
itation, as  a  victim  and  a  sacrifice.  The  snare  had 
been  set  carefully  and  deliberately,  and  the  wretched 
farce,  the  mockery  of  a  trial,  was  all  that  stood 
between  him  and  the  remorseless  vengeance  of  the 
government.  The  bench  before  which  he  was  to  be 
tried  was  filled  with  judges  such  as  have  been  describ- 
ed ;  such  as  had  been  "  blemishes  to  the  bar ;"  the 
like  of  which  never  before  or  since  have  disgraced 
Westminster  Hall — worse  than  the  creatures  of  Cou- 
thon  and  St.  Just,  or  the  most  sanguinary  judges  of 
the  revolutionay  tribunal.  But,  lest  a  ray  of  hope 
might  remain  for  the  prisoner  in  the  honesty  of  an 
English  jury,  the  most  systematic  and  careful  mea- 
sures had  been  successfully  carried  into  effect  to 
pack  a  jury^  drawn  from  among  the  creatures  and 
hirelings  of  the  Court,  and  men  of  ruined  char- 
acter and  fortune,  who  were  either  his  personal  ene- 
inies,  or  were  dependant  entirely  upon  the  royal  favor. 


CHAPTER  vm.  245 

Sidney  says  in  his  "  Apology,"  that  he  thought  his 
birth,  education,  and  life,  might  have  deserved  a 
jury  of  the  principal  knights  and  gentlemen,  free- 
holders in  Middlesex,  or  at  all  events,  if  not  free- 
holders, then  the  most  eminent  men  for  quality  and 
understanding,  reputation  and  virtue,  who  lived  in 
the  country.  But  when  a  copy  of  the  panel  was  sent 
to  him,  he  found  a  jury  summoned  of  men,  many  of 
whom  were  of  the  "  meanest  callings,  ruined  fortunes, 
lost  reputations,  and  hardly  endowed  with  such  under- 
standing as  is  required  for  a  jury  in  a  '  nisi  prius' 
court,  for  a  business  of  five  pounds."  The  jury  had 
been  selected  by  the  solicitors  of  the  Crown  ;  the 
names  of  a  few  gentlemen  were  inserted  in  the  panel 
for  form's  sake  ;  but  the  bailiffs  had  never  summoned 
these,  or,  if  summoned,  they  did  not  attend.  Of  the 
whole  number  returned,  only  the  names  of  three  per- 
sons were  known  to  C61.  Sidney,  whom,  if  present,  he 
had  resolved  to  accept.  The  lord  Chief  Justice,  too, 
arbitrarily  refused  him  the  right  of  challenge  for 
cause  against  such  of  the  jurors  as  were  in  the  king's 
service,  as  wanted  freeholds,  or  as  were  notoriously 
infamous.  After  a  few  peremptory  challenges  of  such 
perspns  as  he  knew  were  summoned  to  destroy  him,  a 
jury  was  at  length  empanelled  and  sworn.  Among 
the  jurors  were  three  carpenters,  a  tailor,  a  cheese 
monger,  and  a  horse  rider. 

Before  entering  upon  the  trial.  Col.  Sidney  agai  i 
moved  for  a  copy  of  the  indictment,  and  cited  for  that 
purpose  the  statute  of  46  Edw.  II.,  which   enacted 


246  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

that  all  persons,  in  all  cases,  should  have  a  copy  of  such 
records  as  were  against  them.  The  prisoner  fortified  his 
application  with  the  precedents  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford, 
Lord  Stafford,  and  the  popish  lords  in  the  tower,  all  of 
whom  had  availed  themselves  of  this  privilege ;  but 
Jeffries  again  denied  the  application  on  the  authority 
of  the  cases  of  Yane  and  Russell,  holding  that  the 
right  extended  only  to  peers  and  not  to  commoners. 
Upon  this  part  of  the  proceedings  Sidney  in  his 
*' Apology,"  indignantly  remarks,  "Although  I  am  not 
a  peer  I  am  of  the  wood  of  which  they  are  made^  and 
do  not  find  that  our  ancestors  were  less  careful  of  the 
lives  of  commoners  than  of  peers,  or  that  one  law  is 
made  for  them  and  another  for  us  ;  but  are  all  en- 
tirely under  the  same  law  and  the  same  rules." 

And  now  the  formal  proclamation  for  evidence  hav- 
ing been  made,  the  case  was  opened  to  the  jury  by 
Mr.  Dolben,  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  Crown,  who 
stated  the  substance  of  the  indictment,  to  wit :  that 
the  prisoner  had  conspired  the  death  of  the  king,  and 
to  levy  war  within  the  kingdom  ;  and  also  that  he  had 
written  a  false,  seditious  libel,  in  which  was  contained 
these  English  words  :  "  The  power  originally  in  the 
people  of  England  is  delegated  unto  the  Parliament. 
The  king  is  subject  to  the  law  of  God  as  he  is  a  man  ; 
to  the  people  that  makes  him  a  king,  inasmuch  as  he 
is  a  king;  the  law  sets  a  measure  unto  that  subjection,''^ 
etc.  The  attorney-general  then  followed  in  an  artful 
and  Jesuitical  address  designed  to  prepossess  the  minds  of- 
the  jury,  and  to  prejudice  them   against  any  defence 


CHAPTER   Tm.  247 

the  prisoner  might  make.  In  the  course  of  his  re- 
marks, the  attorney-general  expressed  himself  in  indig- 
nant terms  upon  the  "  seditious  libel"  alleged  to  have 
been  written  by  the  prisoner,  and  upon  the  atrocious 
nature  of  the  sentiments  he  entertained  upon  govern- 
ment as  found  written  in  his  manuscript ;  concluding 
with  the  following  words :  "Grentlemen,  if  we  prove 
all  these  matters  to  you,  I  doubt  not  you  will  do 
right  to  the  king  and  kingdom,  and  show  your  abhor- 
rence of  those  republican  principles,  whichy  if  put  in 
practice,  will  not  only  destroy  the  king,  but  the  best 
monarchy  in  the  world." 

What  mercy  was  the  prisoner  to  expect  from  such 
ruthless  prosecutors,  what  favor  from  that  corrupt 
bench,  what  justice  at  the  hands  of  that  slavish  jury  ! 

Then  the  solicitor-general.  Finch,  the  same  who 
twenty  years  before  had  covered  himself  with  infamy 
by  his  conduct  in  the  prosecution  of  Vane,  called 
West  as  the  first  witness  for  ths  crown.  This  West 
was  the  individual,  who  with  Col.  Rumsey,  Keil- 
ing,  and  others,  had  been  concerned  in  the  Rye- 
house  Plot,  which  had  just  been  discovered.  Sidney 
was  not  in  the  least  implicated  in  that  plot,  and  was 
even  unacquainted  with  the  conspirators  who  were  now 
produced  as  witnesses,  not  to  prove  any  connection  of 
his  with  the  plot,  but  to  prove  generally  the  existe?ice 
of  a  plot. 

Sidney  objected  to  West  as  a  witness,  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  confessed  many  treasons  and  was  not  yet 
pardoned. 


248  ALGEKNOl^  SIDNEY. 

"  I  don't  know  that,"  interposed  the  Chief  Justice. 

"  My  lord,"  said  Sidney,  "  how  can  he  be  a  witness 
then  ?" 

"  Swear  him,"  growled  Jeffries,  "  for  I  know  no 
legal  objection  against  him.  He  was  a  good  witness 
in  my  Lord  EusselPs  trial  ?" 

The  witness  was  then  asked  by  one  of  the  Crown 
lawyers  what  he  knew  ^'  of  a  general  insurrection  in 
England .?" 

The  prisoner  here  objected  to  the  giving  of  any 
evidence  except  what  concerned  himself  personally  ; 
but  the  court  overruled  his  objection,  and  suffered  West 
to  detail  his  own  conversations,  and  the  conversations 
of  others  relative  to  the  Eye-house  Plot,  and  a  pro- 
jected general  rising,  in  which  Sidney  was  not  in  the 
slightest  degree  concerned.  *'  As  to  the  prisoner  in 
particular,"  said  this  witness  in  conclusion,  "  I  know 
nothing,  and  did  never  speak  with  him  till  since  the 
discovery."  In  the  course  of  the  examination,  while 
"West  was  detailing  the  rumors  and  reports  of  a  plot 
he  had  heard,  Sidney  attempted  again  to  object  to  this 
illegal  evidence.  But  Jeffries  peremptorily  silenced 
him  with  the  remark  :  "  You  must  not  interrupt  the 
witness.     Go  on,  sir." 

Rumsey  was  then  called  to  the  stand  and  proceeded 
in  a  similar  strain.  He  spoke  of  the  meeting  at  Shep- 
herd's, and  several  meetings  at  West's,  in  which  the 
rising  was  talked  off,  but  did  not  pretend  that  Sidney 
was  present,  or  had  any  knowledge  of  these  meetings ; 
or  was  in  any   way  connected  with  the  conspiracy, 


CHAPTER  "vm.  249 

except  that  West  and  one  Goodenough  had  told  the 
witness  that  there  was  a  Council  of  six,  conriposed  of 
the  prisoner,  the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  Lord  Essex, 
Lord  Howard,  Lord  Russell,  and  Mr.  Hampden,  who 
IV ere  expected  to  countenance  the  rising. 

The  infamous  Keiling,  who  had  been  the  first  to 
turn  evidence  for  the  Crown  and  betray  his  associates, 
was  then  sworn.  He  merely  testified  to  a  conversa- 
tion with  Goodenough,  who,  the  witness  said,  had  told 
him  of  a  design  of  a  general  insurrection,  and  that 
Col.  Sidney,  whom  the  witness  admitted  he  did  not 
know,  was  to  have  a  considerable  part  in  the  manage- 
ment of  it. 

Col.  Sidney. — My  lord,  I  must  ever  put  you  in 
mind,  whether  it  be  ordinary  to  examine  men  upon 
indictments  of  treason  concerning  me,  that  I  never 
saw  nor  heard  of  in  my  life. 

Jeffries. — I  tell  you  all  this  evidence  does  not  affect 
you,  and  I  tell  the  jury  so. 

Col.  Sidney. — But  it  prepossesses  the  jury. 

The  Chief  Justice  made  no  reply. 

Thus  far  not  the  first  syllable  of  anything  like 
evidence  known  to  the  common  law  of  England,  had 
been  given  against  the  prisoner.  The  hearsays,  the 
rumors,  the  reports  of  a  plot,  of  the  very  existence  of 
which  there  was  no  proof  that  Sidney  had  even  the 
remotest  knowledge,  were  clearly  inadmissible  for  any 
purpose  ;  but  the  tyrannical  judge  had  suffered  them  to 
be  given  under  the  false  pretence  that  he  meant  to  tell 
the  jury  that  this  testimony  did  not  affect  the  prisoner. 
11* 


250  ALGEEITON  SIDNEY. 

The  prosecution,  now,  undertook  to  give  more 
definite  and  positive  evidence,  and  for  that  purpose 
called  the  sole  v^itness  on  whom  they  relied  to  prove 
any  connection  of  the  prisoner  with  the  plot.  Lord 
Howard,  one  of  the  pretended  Council  of  six.  A  word 
in  respect  to  this  witness  may  be  proper,  before  un- 
dertaking to  give  the  substance  of  his  testimony. 

Lord  Howard  of  Escrick  is  justly  branded  by  Bishop 
Burnet  as  a  monster  of  ingratitude.  He  was  a  man 
of  pleasing  manners,  but  of  the  most  .worthless  and 
depraved  character.  Strangely  enough,  he  had  ac- 
quired in  a  high  degree  the  good  opinion  of  Sidney, 
who  had  befriended  and  aided  him  on  many  occasions. 
He  had  lent  him  large  sums  of  money,  which  were 
still  owing.  When  Howard  was  committed  to  the 
Tower,  as  the  author  of  a  treasonable  libel,  Sidney  had 
remained  true  to  him,  and  by  means  of  the  most 
active  exertions  had  procured  the  withdrawal  of  the 
indictment  against  him.  Yet,  at  the  same  time  that 
Sidney  was  thus  befriending  this  mean-spirited  wretch, 
utterly  unworthy  the  friendship  of  such  a  man, 
Howard  was  plotting  the  ruin  of  his  benefactor.  He 
had  succeeded  in  introducing  Sidney  to  the  Duke  of 
Monmouth,  as  we  have  seen,  by  practising  a  fraud  on 
both.  It  was  upon  the  representations,  and  at  the 
request  of  Sidney  alone,  that  Howard  was  admitted 
at  the  future  consultations,  and  into  the  confidence 
of  Monmouth,  Essex,  Russell,  and  Hampden,  where 
he  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  offered,  to  be- 
come an  infamous  apostate,  and  betray  the  friends 


CHAPTER  '^n.  251 

'<^ho  h&tl  trusted  him.  Sidney  states,  and  doubtless 
with  tr^ith,  that  Howard  not  only  attempted  to  de- 
fraud him  out  of  the  money  he  had  lent  him',  but  also 
had  come  to  his  house  after  his  arrest,  in  the  name  of 
a  friend,  and  endeavored  to  get  his  plate  and  other 
valuables  into  his  own  hands.  After  Russell's  and 
Sidney's  arrest,  this  craven  wretch  went  about  with 
eyes  and  hands  uplifted  to  heaven  solemnly  swearing, 
what  doubtless  was  then  the  truth,  that  he  knew  of  no 
plot^  and  believed  nothing  of  it.  Just  before  Russell's 
trial,  however,  he  was  arrested  in  his  own  house, 
where  he  was  found  concealed  in  a  chimney,  and 
when  taken  into  custody,  commenced  weeping  like  a 
child.  Finding  that  his  safety  and  his  life  were  to  be 
secured  only  by  his  giving  evidence  for  the  Crown,  or, 
as  he  did  not  hesitate  to  express  it  himself,  by  "  the 
drudgery  of  swearing,"  he  without  scruple  volunteered 
his  testimony,  and  proved  traitor  to  those  who  had 
befriended  and  trusted  him.  Such  was  the  ingrate 
whose  testimony  had  convicted  Russell  of  treason  ; 
whose  single,  unsupported,  and  contradictory  oath 
sent  Sidney  to  the  scaffold. 

The  Lord  Howard  was  called  to  the  stand,  and  the 
attorney-general  desired  him  to  tell  what  he  knew 
respecting  the  connection  of  the  prisoner  with  this 
affair  of  a  general  insurrection.  Howar'c  then  com- 
menced bis  story  with  the  preliminary  flourish  that  in 
entering  upon  the  evidence  he  was  about  to  give,  he 
could  not  but  observe  "what  a  natural  uniformity 
there  is  in  truth."     Ho  referred  to  the  testimony  of 


252'  ALGEEXON   SIDISIET. 

the  other  witnesses,  and  spoke  vaguely  of  an  "  enter- 
prise that  had  long  been  in  hand,  and  was  then  fallen 
flat,"  the  reviving  of  which  the  Duke  of  Monmouth, 
the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  and  himself,  were  the  first  to 
consult  upon.  What  the  ''  enterprise"  was,  the  wit- 
ness did  not  pretend  to  state.  The  "consultation" 
spoken  of  was  probably  at  the  time  he  had  succeeded 
by  his  duplicity  in  getting  Monmouth  to  dine  wit?i 
Sidney.  The  witness  further  testified  that  Monmouth 
undertook  to  engage  Russell,  and  that  Sidney  pro- 
mised to  bring  Essex  and  Hampden  into  the  cabal. 
That  the  six  subsequently  met  at  Hampden's  house, 
where,  in  a  conversation  commenced  by  Hampden 
some  mention  was  made  of  a  sum  of  money  to  bo 
raised  for  an  "  enterprise"  (what  it  was  the  witness 
does  not  state) ;  and  the  Duke  of  Monmouth  men- 
tioned twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand  pounds.  The  wit- 
ness then  went  on  to  say  that  he  was  present  at 
one  other  meeting  at  the  house  of  Russell.  At  this 
meeting  Howard  said  there  was  some  discourse  by 
Mr.  Hampden,  which  was  thought  to  be  untimely 
and  unseasonable,  and  that  was  (we  give  his  own 
words),  "  that  having  now  united  ourselves  with  such 
an  undertaking  as  thisivas,  it  could  not  but  be  expected 
that  it  would  be  a  question  put  to  many  of  us — to 
what  end  all  this  was  ?  "Where  it  was  we  intended 
to  terminate?  Into  what  we  intended  to  •resolve?" 
Hampden  then  communicated  his  opinion  that  the 
object  ought  to  be,  "  to  put  the  properties  and  liber- 
ties of  the  people  in  such  hands  as  they  should  not  be 


CHAPTER  vm.  •  .  253 

easily  invaded  by  any  that  were  trusted  with  the 
supreme  authority,"  and  to  "  resolve  all  into  the 
authority  of  Parliament."  The  witness  stated  that 
this  was  finally  consented  to,  though  it  had  *'  a  little 
harshness  to  some  that  were  there,"  doubtless,  allud- 
ing to  the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  whose  object  was  the 
throne,  while  that  of  Sidney  as  well  as  of  Essex,  Russell 
and  Hampden  was  a  free,  if  not  a  republican,  govern- 
ment. The  witness  testified  further,  that  a  propo- 
sition was  made  in  respect  to  sending  an  emissary  to 
Scotland,  to  some  leading  men  there,  in  order  to 
ascertain  the  minds  of  the  people  of  that  country  ; 
whereupon  Sidney  proposed  one  Aaron  Smith  as  a 
proper  person  for  such  a  mission.  This,  he  said,  was 
all  that  occurred  to  him  as  having  passed  at  the  meet- 
ings, and  these  were  the  only  meetings  at  which  he 
was.  In  answer  to  some  further  questions  put  to 
him  by  the  attorney-general,  he  said  that  once  in 
London  he  had  seen  Sidney  take  out  several  guineas, 
he  supposed  about  sixty,  which,  he  said,  were  for 
Smith,  and  afterwards  Sidney  had  told  him  that 
Smith  had  departed  for  Scotland.  This  was  the  sub- 
stance of  Lord  Howard's  testimony.  At  its  close,  the 
Chief  Justice  inquired  of  the  prisoner  if  he  would  ask 
any  questions.  Sidney  replied  that  he  had  no  quesF 
tions  to  ask.  Hereupon  the  attorney-general,  catch- 
ing his  cue  from  Jeffries,  responded,  for  the  particular 
benefit  of  the  jury :  "  Silence — you  know  the  pro* 
verby 

Foster  and  Atterbury  were  then  sworn,  who  tes- 


254  ALGEENOiT  SIDNEY. 

tified  briefly  and  vaguely  to  the  fact  of  some  Scotch 
gentlemen  coming  up  to  London,  among  whom  was 
Sir  John  Cockran,  to  whom  it  was  pretended  Smith 
had  carried  a  letter,  written,  as  Howard  believed^  by 
Lord  Russell. 

So  closed  this  most  weak,  inconclusive,  and  ex- 
traordinary testimony,  which  the  prosecution  had  so 
diligently  prepared  to  sustain  this  branch  of  the  case. 
Although  nothing  in  reality  was  proved  to  support 
the  indictment  for  the  crime  of  conspiracy  against, 
and  imagining  the  death  of,  the  king,  and  of  levying 
war  against  him  in  his  realm,  even  admitting  the  tes- 
timony of  the  perjured  Howard  to  be  true,  yet  the 
prosecutors  insisted,  confident  that  the  judge  would 
so  charge  the  jury,  that  they  had  abundantly  proved 
the  overt  act  of  treason  by  one  witness.  In  order, 
however,  to  convict  of  the  crime  of  treason,  it  wa? 
necessary,  as  has  been  mentioned,  that  two  concurring 
witnesses  should  testify  to  some  overt  act.  Thus  far 
the  Crown  had  produced  only  one.  Lord  Howard.  In 
order  to  supply  the  defect  of  proof,  they  now  pro- 
posed to  introduce  the  manuscripts  of  Sidney,  seized 
by  Sir  Philip  Lloyd  in  his  closet,  at  the  time  of  his 
arrest,  which  the  prosecution  insisted  was  equivalent 
to  another  witness. 

Sir  Philip  Lloyd  was  sworn,  who  testified  that  hs 
had  seized,  under  the  warrant  of  the  king  and  council, 
certain  papers  of  Col.  Sidney,  at  the  time  of  his 
arrest.  Shepherd,  Cary,  and  Cooke,  three  witnesses 
produced  by  the  Crown,  were  then  sworn,  who  proved 


CHAPTER  vm.  255 

by  comparison  of  hands,  that  the  papers  found  were 
the  writings  of  the  prisoner.*  Notwithstanding  the 
objection  of  the  prisoner  against  the  illegality  of  the^ 
evidence,  the  papers  vvere  admitted,  and  a  portion  of 
them  read  to  the  jury.  In  order  to  show  upon  what 
evidence  Sidney  was  convicted  of  the  crime  of  high 
treason,  we  shall  quote  the  following  passages  from 
these  papers,  vvhich  were  read  upon  his  trial,  alleged, 
doubtless  with  truth,  to  have  been  written  by  him  ; 
and  which  the  lord  Chief  Justice  charged  the  jury 
were  to  be  considered  equivalent  to  the  production  of 
another  witness  to  prove  an  overt  act  of  treason  : — 

*'  For  this  reason  Bracton  saith,  that  the  king  hath 
three  superiors,  to  wit,  DeuiUy  legem,  et  parliament, \ 
that  is,  the  power  originally  in  the  people  of  England 
is  delegated  unto  the  Parliament.  He  is  subject  unto 
the  law  of  God,  as  he  is  a  man  ;  to  the  people  that 
makes  him  king,  inasmuch  as  he  is  a  king.  The  law 
sets  a  measure  unto  that  subjection,  and  the  Parlia- 
ment judges  of  the  particular  cases  thereupon  arising. 
He  must  be  content  to  submit  his  interest  unto  theirs, 
since  he  is  no  more  than  any  one  of  them  in  any 
other  respect  than  that  he  is,  by  the  consent  of  all, 
raised  above  any  other."  • 

^^  If  he  doth  not  like  this  condition  he  may  renounce 
the  crown  ;  but  if  he  receive  it  upon  that  condition, 
as  all  magistrates  do  the  power  they  receive,  and 
swear  to  perform  it,  he  must  expect  that  the  perform- 

*  One  of  them,  however,  had  seen  Sidney  si^a  his  name  to  the  bills. 
t  God,  law,  and  the  parliament.  *^    ^' ' ' 


256  ALGEEOSrOIT  SIDNEY. 

ance  will  be  exacted,  or  revenge  taken  "by  those  that 
he  hath  betrayed." 

The  clerk  having  finished  the  reading  of  these  and 
similar  extracts,  Jeffries  remarked  to  the  jury,  "  The 
argument  runs  through  the  book  fixing  the  power  in 
the  people."  "Whereupon  the  clerk  was  directed  to 
read  the  titles  of  two  other  sections,  which  he  did  : — 

"  The  general  revolt  of  a  nation  from  its  own 
magistrates,  can  never  be  called  a  rebellion." 

"The  power  of  calling  and  dissolving  parliaments 
is  not  in  the  king." 

The  enunciation  of  these  two  propositions — which 
contained  within  themselves  an  entire  justification  of 
the  late  revolution — seemed  to  fill  the  virtuous  judges, 
the  Crown  lawyers,  and  the  jury,  with  horror.  The 
enormity  of  the  prisoner's  crime  was  now  fully  mani- 
fested. Such  sentiments  as  these,  as  Jeffries  subse- 
quently remarked,  were  not  only  equivalent  to  another 
witness,  but  to  "many  witnesses."  And  the  prose- 
cutors having  at  last  condescended  to  inform  the 
prisoner  that  he  was  indicted  under  the  first  branch 
of  the  statute  of  25th  Edward  III.,  for  conspiring  and 
compassing  the  death  of  the  king,  here  rested  the  case, 
with  all  the  confident  assurance  of  men  who  read  in 
the  stern  countenances  of  the  court  and  jury  the 
doom  of  their  victirh. 

Apparently,  Sidney  in  entering  upon  his  defence  felt 
the  same  conviction.  The  arbitrary  and  tyrannical 
treatment  he  had  received,  was  such  as  to  give  him 
too  plainly  to  understand  that  his  death  was  a  thing 


CHAPTEK  vm.  257 

already  determined.  He,  however,  bore  up  manfully 
and  resolutely,  but  hopelessly,  against  the  formidable 
power  that  assailed  him,  like  a  strong  swimmer  vainly 
struggling  for  his  life,  and  striving  with  stoat  heart  to 
breast  the  resistless  current  that  is  steadily  and  surely 
bearing  him  down.  Before  calling  any  witnesses  he 
addressed  his  judges,  and  after  some  pertinent  and  un- 
answerable comments  upon  the  insufficiency  of  the 
testimony,  he  desired  the  court  to  relieve  him  from 
entering  upon  his  defence,  upon  the  ground  that  only 
one  witness  had  been  produced  against  him.  But  he 
was  met  only  with  the  scornful  answer  of  the  Chief 
Justice,  that  if  he  did  not  choose  to  make  any  defence, 
the  court  would  charge  the  jury  upon  the  law  pre- 
sently, and  leave  them  to  decide  the  case  upon  the 
evidence  already  given.  Sidney  then  desired  counsel 
to  argue  the  point  of  there  being  but  a  single  witness, 
but  Jeffries  ruled  this  to  be  a  question  of  fact  for  the 
jury,  who  alone  were  to  determine  whether  the  evi- 
dence was  sufficient  or  not !  Baffled  on  all  sides  by 
the  subtlety,  the  almost  infernal  craft  of  the  judge, 
Sidney  still  manfully  stood  his  ground,  and  undertook 
himself  to  argue  before  that  prejudiced  tribunal,  that 
the  papers  found  in  his  possession  were  no  evidence  of 
treason,  or  of  any  crime.  He  urged  that  they  were 
never  published,  and  perhaps  never  would  have  been  ; 
that  from  the  color  of  the  ink  they  appeared  to  have 
been  written  fcwenty  years  ago  ;  that  the  matter  of 
the  book  was  not  treasonable,  and  was  connected  with 
no  plot,  past,  present,  or  to  come,  but  that  the  treatise 


258  ALGEENON-  SIDNEY. 

itself,  as  appeared  upon  its  face,  was  in  answer  to  an 
infamous  book  of  Sir  Robert  Filmer  on  the  ''  Divine 
Right  of  Kings,''  wherein  that  author  laid  down  the 
doctrine  of  absolute  power  on  the  part  of  the  monarch, 
and  passive  obedience  on  the  part  of  the  subject ;  and 
that  by  the  law  of  England  he  had  a  right  to  contro- 
vert such  speculative  opinions,  or  at  least  to  write  his 
own  thoughts  in  respect  to  them  in  his  closet.  Here 
the  argument  of  Sidney  began  to  grow  too  trouble- 
some to  the  Chief  Justice.  He  abruptly  interrupted 
him  (as  he  constantly  did  in  such  parts  of  his  discourse 
as  he  saw  might  influence  the  jury)  and  sternly  re- 
minded him  that  it  was  not  his  business  to  "  spend 
your  time  and  the  court's  time  in  that  which  serves  to 
no  other  purpose  than  to  gratify  a  luxuriant  ivay  of 
talking  you  have  ;"  and  thereupon  he  repeated,  that 
when  he  came  to  direct  the  jury,  he  should  instruct 
them  that  the  law  required  two  witnesses,  but  that 
whether  there  was  such  proof  or  not  was  to  be  solely 
determined  by  the  jury,  as  a  question  of  fact.  His 
learned  associates,  Wythins  and  Holloway,  chimed  in 
their  notes  of  approval.  Col.  Sidney  calmly  answered  : 
*'  Truly,  my  lord,  I  do  as  little  intend  to  mis-spend  my 
own  time,  and  your  time,  as  ever  any  man  that  came 
before  you." 

Whereupon  Jeffries  brutally  rejoined ;  "  Take  your 
own  method,  Mr.  Sidney  ;  but  I  say  if  you  are  a  man 
of  low  spirits  and  weak  body,  'tis  a  duty  incumbent 
on  the  court  to  exhort  you  not  to  spend  your  time  upon 
things  that  are  not  material." 


CHAPTER  vm.  259 

Overruled  thus  on  all  sides — the  contents  of  papers 
written  many  years  before,  being  held  evidence  of  an 
existing  plot  to  murder  the  king — the  innocent  specu- 
lations of  a  philosopher  being  construed  into  the  plot- 
tings  of  the  rankest  treason,  and  his  objections  to 
these  absurd  constructions  of  law  being  held  entirely 
immaterial,  Sidney  still  pressed  his  last  point,  that  the 
discourses  were  never  published,  observing  that  he 
thought  it  ''  a  right  of  mankind,  and  exercised  by  all 
studious  men,  to  write  what  they  pleased  in  their  own 
closets  for  their  own  memory,  without  ever  being  called 
in  question  for  it."  But  Jeffries  did  not  so  understand 
the  law.  "  Pray,  don't  go  away  with  that  right  of 
mankind,"  he  remarked,  "  I  have  been  told,  curse  not 
the  king,  not  in  thy  thoughts,  not  in  thy  bedchamber, 
the  birds  of  the  air  will  carry  it ;  I  took  it  to  be  the 
duty  of  mankind  to  observe  that?'* 

Such  was  one  of  the  judges,  who  but  little  more 
than  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  administered  the  law 
in  Westminster  Hall  on  the  bench  of  a  tribunal  whose 
decisions  .have  the  weight  of  authority  in  our  own 
country,  and  which  are  daily  quoted  in  our  own  court 
as  the  highest  evidences  of  the  common  law  ! 

Put  thus  to  the  necessity  of  rebutting  what  the 
court  was  pleased  to  consider  the  facts  proved  against 
him.  Col.  Sidney  called  several  witnesses  for  the  pur- 
pose of  impeaching  the  statements  of  Lord  Howard. 
Among  these  were  Howard's  two  kinsmen,  Mr.  Philip 
and  Mr.  Edward  Howard,  the  Earl  of  Anglesey,  Lord 
Clare,  Lord  Paget  and  Bishop  Burnett.     It  is  unneces- 


260  ALGEElSrON  SIDNEY. 

sary  in  this  place  to  go  into  the  particulars  of  the 
testimony  given  by  these  witnesses.  They  all  con- 
curred in  the  fact  that  Lord  Howard,  before  his  arrest, 
had  continually  disavowed  the  existence  of  any  plot, 
and  treated  it  with  ridicule,  and  that  even  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  familiar  and  intimate  conversations 
with  his  friends,  asserted  the  same  facts,  and  even  for- 
tified his  statements  with  an  oath.  Bishop  Burnet, 
for  example,  testified  that  Howard  protested  to  him 
with  hands  and  eyes  uplifted  to  heaven,  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  any  plot,  and  believed  nothing  of  it,  and 
looked  upon  it  as  a  ridiculous  thing.  His  cousin, 
Edward  Howard,  with  whom  he  had  always  been  on 
the  closest  terms  of  intimacy,  testified  that  he  had 
stated  to  him  confidentially,  in  a  private  conversation, 
the  same  thing,  assuring  him  that  the  whole  plot  was 
a  sham,  to  his  knowledge,  devised  by  Jesuits  and 
Papists.  The  apparent  sincerity  of  the  communica- 
tion on  that  occasion,  was  so  totally  irreconcileable 
with  the  truth  of  Lord  Howard's  present  statements, 
that  his  cousin  assured  the  jury  he  w^ould  not  believe 
Lord  Howard  under  oath. 

Here  the  Chief  Justice,  who  feared  the  effect  of  his 
testimony  onthe  minds  ot  the  jury,  interfered:  "  This 
must  not  be  suffered." 

The  attorney-general  angrily  remarked  to  the  wit- 
ness, "  You  ought  to  be  bound  to  your  good  behavior 
for  that." 

And  Jeffries  promptly  told  the  iury  they  were  bound 


CHAPTER  Vm. 

by  their  oaths  to  go  according  to  the  evidence,  and 
were  not  '•^  to  go  by  men/s  conjectures.'''' 

In  addition  to  this  evidence,  the  infamous  character 
of  Howard  was  proved  by  other  confessions  and  acts. 
A  witness,  Blake,  testified  that  after  the  discovery  of 
the  pretended  plot,  Howard  had  told  hini  he  could  not 
have  his  pardon  *'  till  the  drudgery  of  swearing  was 
over."  Howard  himself  admitted  on  the  trial  that  he 
owed  Sidney  money  on  a  mortgage.  Grrace  Tracy  and 
Elizabeth  Penwick,  two  of  Sidney's  servants,  testified 
that  Howard  came  to  the  house  after  Sidney's  arrest, 
and  after  calling  upon  God  to  witness  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  a  plot,  and  was  sure  Col.  Sidney  knew 
nothing  of  one,  desired  to  obtain  possession  of  Sid- 
ney's plate,  and  ordered  it  to  be  sent  to  his  own  house 
to  be  secured.  Upon  this  the  testimony  closed,  and 
the  prisoner  was  directed  by  the  court  to  apply  him- 
self to  the  jury. 

The  brief  address  of  Sidney  to  the  jury,  as  it  is 
found  published  in  the  "  State  Trials,"  appears  to  us 
embarrassed  and  restrained.  He  was,  doubtless,  sen- 
sible, though  conscious  of  his  own  innocence,  that  his 
defence  was  desperate  before  that  partial  and  bigoted 
tribunal.  The  argument  of  the  legal  questions  in- 
volved, is  both  acute  and  logical,  and  at  times  he 
rises  to  a  lofty  and  manly  eloquence ;  yet,  throughout 
the  whole,  though  he  never  for  a  moment  loses  his 
calmness  and  self-possession,  he  seems  to  be  laboring 
as  a  man  who  struggles  against  hope.  One  fact  is 
singularly  significant  of  the  utter  hopelessness  of  the 


262  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

position  in  which  he  found  himself  placed.  It  is, 
that  he  did  not  venture  to  justify  to  the  jury,  as 
he  had  previously  done  to  the  court,  a  single  passage 
from  the  manuscript  which  had  been  rfead  against 
him.  He  urged  the  defect  in  the  proof  of  the  hand- 
v^riting,  and  that  the  similitude  of  hands  to  which 
the  witnesses  had  sworn  was  no  proof;  but  he  does 
not  place  his  defence  on  the  broad  ground  that  the 
sentiments  contained  in  the  manuscript  are  justifiable. 

*'  If  anything  is  to  be  made  of  them,"  he  says, 
*'  you  must  produce  the  whole  ;  for  'tis  impossible  to 
make  anything  of  a  part  of  them.  You  ask  me 
what  other  passages  I  would  have  read  ?  I  don't 
know  a  passage  in  them.  I  can't  tell  whether  it  be 
good  or  bad.  Bat  if  there  are  any  papers  found  ('tis 
a  |2:reat  doubt  whether  they  were  found  in  my  study 
or  whether  they.be  not  counterfeited,  but  though  that 
be  admitted  that  they  were  found  in  my  house),  the 
hand  is  such  that  it  shows  they  have  been  written 
very  many  years.  Then,  that  which  seems  to  bo  an 
account  of  the  sections  and  chapters,  that  is  but  a 
scrap.  And  what,  if  any  body  had,  my  lord,  either 
in  my  own  hand  or  another's  found  papers  that  are 
not  well  justified,  is  this  treason  ?  Does  this  imagine 
the  death  of  the  king  ?  Does  this  reach  the  life  of 
the  king  ?  If  any  man  can  say  I  ever  printed  a 
sheet  in  my  life,  I  will  submit  to  any  punishment." 

Speaking  further  of  Howard's  statement  in  respect 
to  the  meeting  of  the  Council  of  six,  he  says  : — 


cnAPTEE  Tm.  263 

<*  This  was  nothing,  if  he  was  a  credible  witness, 
but  a  few  men  talking  at  large  of  what  might  be,  or 
might  not  be — what  was  likely  to  fall  out  without 
any  manner  of  intention  or  doing  anything.  They 
did  not  so  much  as  inquire  whether  there  were  men 
in  the  country,  arms,  or  ammunition.  A  war  to  bo 
made  by  five  or  six  men,  not  knowing  one  another — 
not  trusting  one  another  !  "What  said  Dr.  Coxe  in 
his  evidence  at  my  Lord  Russell's  trial,  of  my  Lord 
Russell's  trusting  my  Lord  Howard  ?  He  might  say 
the  same  of  some  others.  So  that,  my  lord,  I  say 
these  papers  have  no  manner  of  coherency — no  depen- 
dence upon  any  such  design.  You  must  go  upon 
conjecture,  and  after  all  you  find  nothing,  but  only 
papers — never  perfect — only  scraps — written  many 
years  ago  ;  and  that  could  not  be  calculated  for  the 
raising  of  the  people.  Now  pray,  wh^t  imagination 
can  be  more  vain  than  that?  What  man  Ci\n  be 
safe  if  the  king's  counsel  can  make  such  (vvhirnsical, 
I  won't  say,  but)  groundless  constructions  ?'' 

Sach  was  Sidney's  explanation  to  the  jury  of  the 
papers  found  in  his  possession.  Doubtless,  his  course 
in  assuming  this  cautious  position  was  the  most  pru- 
dent he  could  have  taken  before  such  a  jury,  so 
far  as  the  probable  issue  of  the  trial  was  concerned ; 
but  we  cannot  look  over  his  defence  without  a  feeling 
of  disappointment  at  its  comparative  tameness,  and 
the  conviction  that  he  suffered  to  pass  by  him  the 
glorious  opportunity  of  boldly  justifying  the  noble  sen- 
timents contained  in  his  discourses,  and  that  too  with- 


264:  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

out  realizing  the  least  benefit  from  his  excess  of  pru- 
dence. Sidney's  defence,  though  firm,  manly,  and 
elevated,  and  though  not  disfigured  by  a  word  or 
thought  unworthy  the  man  or  the  occasion,  yet  com- 
pares unfavorably  with  the  masterly  and  every  way 
glorious  defence  by  Yane,  when  arraigned  and  con- 
demned on  a  similar  charge.  Though  Sidney  pos- 
sessed a  larger  degree  of  physical  courage,  and  a 
greater  share  of  what  the  world  calls  intrepidity  and 
daring,  yet  the  highest  conception  we  can  form  of  his 
character  does  not  clothe  it  with  that  elevated,  that 
almost  sublime,  moral  heroism — that  high-wrought 
enthusiasm  in  the  discharge  of  duty — that  unshrink- 
ing, undying  devotion  to  principle,  even  at  the  judg- 
ment tribunal,  and  in  the  face  of  the  scaffold,  which 
embalms  the  memory  of  Sir  Harry  Vane.  Vane,  in 
presence  of  his  judges,  fearlessly  avowed  and  justified 
ever.y  act  and  sentiment  of  his  whole  life  ;  he  spoke 
not  for  himself  alone,  but  for  his  fellow  men — ^not  for 
his  own  sake  merely,  as  he  told  his  judges,  but  for 
theirs,  and  posterity ;  and  at  the  close  of  his  trial, 
the  issue  of  which  he  had  all  along  foreseen,  he 
blessed  the  liord  "  that  he  had  been  enabled  to  dis- 
charge, to  his  own  entire  satisfaction,  the  duty  he 
owed  to  his  country  and  to  the  liberty  of  his  country- 
men." But  it  should  be  remembered  at  the  same 
time,  that  the  defence  of  Vane,  if  more  striking  and 
noble  than  that  of  Sidney,  was  made  under  more 
advantageous  circumstances.  Deeply  skilled  in  the 
subtle  dialectics  of  the  day ;   possessing  a  profound,  an 


CHAPTER  vm.  265 

acute,  and  a  wonderfully  versatile  intellect ;  able  at 
once  to  deal  with  the  most  abstruse  questions  of  meta- 
physics, of  controversial  divinity,  and  'of  law.  Vane 
was  precisely  the  man,  with  his  high-wrought  and 
just  conceptions  ot  liberty  and  right,  and  his  un- 
shrinking moral  firmness,  to  stand  manfully  up  in 
justification  of  every  word  he  had  ever  uttered  in 
favor  of  the  freedom  of  his  countrymen.  So  he  did  ; 
and  for  several  days  baflled  the  ingenuity  of  the  most 
accomplished  lawyers  of  the  kingdom,  and  averted, 
and  almost  foiled  the  efforts  of  a  court  that  wielded 
the  whole  power  of  the  law  to  crush  him.  It  does 
not  detract  from  the  merits  of  Sidney's  defence,  nor 
from  that  of  any  other  victim  of  political  persecution 
who  ever  stood  at  the  bar  of  the  king's  bench  in 
Westminster  Hall,  to  say  that  none  can  be  found  to 
rival  in  greatness  and  moral  sublimity  this  last  public 
effort  of  the  most  illustrious  statesman  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. 

When  Sidney  had  concluded  his  speech  in  his  own 
defence,  the  solicitor-general,  Sir  Heneage  Finch, 
arose  to  address  the  jury.  Finch  was  an  able  and 
skilful  advocate,  versed  in  all  the  subtlety  and  craft 
6  his  profession.  His  harangue  on  this  occasion  was 
an  ingenious  tissue  of  calumnies,  misrepresentations, 
and  sophistry  ;  exhibiting  throughout  the  practised 
hand  of  the  pampered  and  unscrupulous  advocate, 
whose  business,  as  king's  counsel,  it  had  been,  through 
a  long  series  of  years,  as  Sidney  expressed  it,  to  drive 
men  headlong  into  verdicts  upon  no  evidence.  And 
12 


266  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

surely  never  had  a  case  occurred  in  which  that  feat 
was  more  successfully  accomplished.  At  the  close  of 
Finch's  speech  the  prisoner  attempted  to  correct 
some  of  his  misrepresentations  of  the  evidence,  and 
false  construction  of  the  law  ;  but  he  was  sternly 
and  peremptorily  silenced  by  the  court. 

Then  Jeffries  stood  up  to  charge  the  jury.  He 
spoke  about  an  hour  and  a  quarter,  in  a  tone  of  vio- 
lence, and  in  a  spirit  of  gross  partiality,  that  would 
have  been  censurable  in  an  advocate  at  the  bar.  In 
his  "  Apology,"  Sidney,  speaking  of  this  charge  of  the 
judge,  says  of  it :  *'  I  can  give  no  other  account  of  it 
than  that,  as  he  had  been  long  observed  to  excel  in 
the  laudable  faculty  of  misleading  juries,  he  did 
exercise  it  with  more  confidence  upon  the  bench  than 
ever  he  had  done  at  the  bar  ;  declared  treasons  that 
had  been  hitherto  unknown,  and  that  the  jury  was 
obliged  to  take  that  to  be  law  which  he  judged  to  be 
so,  and  misrepresented  the  evidence  even  more  than 
the  Solicitor  had  done?^ 

All  this  was  true  to  the  very  letter.  Jeffries  did 
not  even  preserve  the  semblance  of  the  judge,  but 
throughout  the  entire  charge  assumed  the  tone  of  an 
advocate  for  the  Crown,  and  with  a  facility  of  perver- 
sion both  of  the  law  and  evidence,  tvhich  the  greater 
self-respect  of  the  solicitor-general  did  not  permit  him 
to  use,  and  with  a  tact  and  ready  talent,  and  an  art 
of  expression  almost  infernal,  which  never  failed  him 
when  mischief  was  to  be  accomplished,  he  so  presented 
the  case  to  the  jury  as  rendered  a  conviction  certain. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


267 


It  will  be  remembered  that  Jeffries,  in  answer  to  an 
objection  of  the  prisoner,  had  stated  during  the  trial, 
that  he  should  charge  the  jury  as  a  matter  of  law, 
that  two  witnesses  were  necessary  to  convict  of  high 
treason,  but  that  it*  was  a  question  of  fact  for  the 
jury  to  determine  whether  there  was  such  evidence  or 
not.  He  now,  however,  took  the  whole  matter  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  jury,  and  in  effect  ordered  them  to 
bring  in  a  verdict  of  guilty.  Having  first  carefully 
charged  them  that  thoy  w^ere  bound  to  receive  the 
law  from  the  Court,  he  went  on  to  stigmatize  Sidney's 
manuscript  as  a  "  mg^t  traitorous  and  seditious  libel." 
**If  you  believe,"  he  remarks,  "that  that  was  Col. 
Sidney's  book,  no  man  can  doubt  but  it  is  sufficient 
evidence  that  he  is  guilty  of  compassing  and  imagin- 
ing the  death  of  the  Idng.^''  After  pressing  upon  the 
jury,  with  a  lawyer's  peculiar  and  ready  tact,  the 
moral  certainty  that  this  book  was  the  writing  of  the 
prisoner,  he  thus  proceeds  to  characterize  its  enor- 
mities : 

"  Another  thing  which  I  must  take  notice  of  in  this  case  is  to 
remind  you  how  this  book  contains  all  the  malice  and  revenge  and 
treason  that  mankind  can  be  guilty  of.  It  fixes  the  sole  power  in 
the  Parliament  and  the  people,  so  that  he  carries  on  the  design  still, 
for  their  debates  at  their  meetings  were  to  that  purpose.  And 
such  doctrines  as  these  suit  with  their  debates;  for  there  a  general 
insurrection  was  designed,  and  that  was  discoursed  of  in  this  book 
and  encouraged.  They  must  not  give  it  an  ill  name  ;  it  must  not 
be  called  a  rebellion,  it  being  the  general  act  of  the  people.  The 
king,  it  says,  is  reponsible  unto  them ;  the  king  is  but  their  trustee ; 
that  he  had  betrayed  his  trust,  he  had  misgoverned,  and  now  he  is 
to  give  it  up,  that  they  may  be  all  kings  tnemseives.     Gentlemen, 


268  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

I  must  tell  you  I  think  I  ought  more  than  ordinarily  to  'press  this 
upon  you,  because  I  know  the  misfortunes  of  the  late  unhappy- 
rebellion,  and  the  bringing  the  late  blessed  king  to  the  scaffold,  was 
first  begun  by  such  kind  of  principles.  They  cried,  he  had  betrayed 
the  trust  that  was  delegated  to  him  from  the  people,"  &c.,  &c. 

He  finally  sums  up  his  detestable  comments  upon 
the  book  with  the  remark — "  So  that  it  is  not  ttpon 
twOj  but  it  is  upon  greater  evidence  than  twenty- 
two,  if  you  believe  this  book  was  writ  by  him." 

This  was  charged  as  a  matter  of  law,  which  the 
jury  were  bound  by  their  oaths  to  receive — that  the 
contents  of  the  papers  were  treasonable,  and  were  equi- 
valent to  many  witnesses,  and  *that  unless  the  jury 
found  the  papers  were  not  written  by  the  prisoner, 
they  were  bound  by  their  oaths  to  convict  him.  "What 
course  was  left  for  this  poor,  ignorant  and  enslaved 
jury,  but  to  follow  the  directions  of  a  tyrannical  gov- 
ernment, uttered  through  the  lips  of  a  corrupt  and 
shameless  judge ! 

As  for  the  rest,  Jeffries  proceeded  to  examine,  with 
much  ingenuity  of  artifice,  the  prisoner's  objections 
to  the  testimony,  and  to  demonstrate  to  the  jury,  step 
by  step,  that  all  were  untenable  and  absurd.  The  ob- 
jections against  Lord  Howard,  so  far  from  impeaching 
him,  he  said,  went  rather  to  his  credit,  by  proving  him 
to  be  an  unwilling  witness  !  And,  finally,  having 
arrived  at  the  comfortable  conclusion,  that  no  shadow 
of  doubt  ought  to  be  entertained  of  the  prisoner's 
guilt,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  took  his  seat.  The  sage 
and  oracular  Justice  Wythins  then  stood  up,  but  merely 
to  declare  the  opinion  of  the  rest  of  the  court,  that 


CHAPTER  vni.  269 

"  in  all  the  points  of  law  we  concur  with  my  Lord 
Chief  Justice." 

The  jury  now  retired.  Jeffries  followed  them,  as 
he  pretended,  to  get  a  cup  of  sack,  but  for  the  pur- 
pose, as  it  is  asserted,  of  giving  them  further  and 
private  instructions.  In  half  an  hour's  time  they  re- 
turned with  a  verdict  of  Guilty. 

The  trial  had  lasted  from  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing till  six  in  the  evening.  During  the  whole  of  this 
period  the  prisoner  had  manifested  the  utmost  steadi- 
ness and  serenity  of  temper.  lie  was  frequently  ob- 
served to  smile  at  the  conduct  of  his  persecutors,  and 
he  listened  to  the  verdict  of  the  jury  with  calmness 
and  indifference.  Before  the  verdict  was  recorded,  he 
desired  to  avail  himself  of  the  right  of  inquiring  sev- 
erally of  the  jurors  whether  each  one  had  found  him 
guilty,  and  especially  whether  each  one  had  found  him 
guilty  of  compassing  the  king's  death  ;  of  levying  war 
against  the  king  ;  of  any  treason  within  the  statute 
of  25  Edward  III.  ;*  or  of  any  proved  against  him  by 
two  v^itnesses.  But  the  Chief  Justice  overruled  his 
request,  and  he  was  again  remanded  to  the  tower. 

Three  days  after  the  trial,  the  Duke  of  Monmouth 
surrendered  himself  to  the  government.  He  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  presence  of  the  king,  his  father,  peni- 
tently  confessed  his  errors,  and   was  graciously  for- 

*  The  case  of  Sidney  was  not  attenapted  by  the  Crown  lawyers  to  be 
brought  under  any  head  of  the  statute  of  treasons  other  than  the  first, 
namely  :  "  When  a  man  doth  compass  or  imagine  the  death  of  our  lord 
the  king,  of  our  lady  his  queen,  or  of  their  eldest  son  and  heir." 


270  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

given.  The  friends  of  Sidney  began  to  entertain  hopes 
that  a  new  and  more  impartial  trial  might  be  obtained, 
and  that  the  important  testimony  of  Monmouth  might  be 
used  with  effect  to  acquit  him.  With  this  view  he  was 
persuaded  to  present  a  petition  to  the  king,  which  he  did 
on  the  25th  of  November,  by  the  hands  of  Lord  Halifax. 
The  petition  set  forth  briefly  the  irregularities  of  the 
trial,  and  the  gross  injustice  the  prisoner  had  sus- 
tained at  the  hands  of  the  court,  and  prayed  that  the 
petitioner  might  be  admitted  into  the  presence  of  his 
majesty.  The  nature  of  Charles,  though  cold  and 
perfidious,  was  not  cruel,  and  the  request  might  have 
been  granted,  but  the  vengeful  and  blackhearted  Duke 
of  York  was  at  that  time  high  in  favor  in  the  coun- 
cils of  the  king.  He  seems  to  have  taken  the  case 
of  Sidney  under  his  especial  patronage,  and  to  have 
committed  it  to  the  sure  hands  of  his  protege  Jeffries. 
The  prisoner's  petition,  and  all  his  grievances,  were 
referred  back  to  the  very  judges  by  whom  he  had  been 
tried.  Jeffries  had  before  declared,  in  his  furious  way, 
that  the  prisoner  must  die,  or  he  himself  would  die. 
And  the  Duke  of  York,  by  taking  the  petition  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  king,  and  placing  it  in  those  of 
the  Chief  Justice  and  his  satellites,  knew  that  he  was 
signing  the  death-warrant  of  the  prisoner. 

On  the  following  day,  November  the  2Cth,  Col.  Sid- 
ney was  brought  up  to  the  bar  for  sentence.  The  re- 
markable scene  that  ensued  is  but  partially  detailed 
in  the  printed  report  of  the  trial,  which  has  been 
mainly  followed  in  this  sketch,  but  which  it  seems 


CHAPTEE  vm.  271 

was  corrected,  and  some  of  the  most  atrocious  pro- 
ceedings expunged  by  order  of  the  Chief  Justice.  The 
"  Apology"  of  Sidney,  *'  in  the  day  of  his  death,"  has 
supplied  some  of  these  defects.  Thus  it  appears,  that 
while  Sidney  was  stating  his  reasons  why  the  judg- 
ment should  be  arrested,  Mr.  Justice  Wythins,  who  on 
fhis  occasion  was  drunk  on  the  bench,  gave  him  the 
lie  in  open  court.  To  this  the  prisoner  made  the  mild 
but  dignified  reply,  that,  **  having  lived  above  three- 
score years,  I  have  never  received  or  deserved  such 
language,  for  that  I  have  never  asserted  anything  that 
was  false." 

We  pass  over  the  colloquy  that  ensued  between  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar  and  his  judges  on  the  bench.  Sid- 
ney presented  a  variety  of  points  on  his  motion  for  a 
new  trial,  embracing  substantially  the  irregularities 
already  mentioned,  in  summoning  the  jury,  and  in 
denying  him  a  fair  and  impartial  trial.  The  court, 
however,  interrupted  him  before  he  had  finished  stating 
his  points,  and  refused  to  allow  him  to  proceed.  A.t 
every  step  he  encountered  the  determined  opposition 
of  the  Chief  Justice,  who  overruled  each  of  his  objec- 
tions without  a  hearing,  and  seemed  impatient  to  enjoy 
the  luxury  of  pronouncing  the  sentence.  Placed  thus 
beyond  the  pale  of  the  law,  the  court  stated  to  him, 
in  the  midst  of  hi«  objections,  that  nothing  now  re- 
mained but  to  pronounce  the  judgment  the  law 
required  to  be  pronounced  in  cases  of  high  treason. 
Sidney,  turning  in  despair  from  that  corrupt  tribunal, 
exclaimed: 


272  -  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

*'  I  must  appeal  to  God  and  the  world.  I  am  not 
heard  I" 

*'  Appeal  to  whom  you  will,"  answered  Jeffries,  and 
proceeded  with  mock  solemnity  to  pass  the  customary 
sentence  of  the  law  for  high  treason.  As  he  con- 
cluded, Sidney,  raising  his  hands  to  Heaven,  ex- 
claimed : 

*'  Then,  0  God  !  I  beseech  thee  to  sanctify  these 
sufferings  unto  me,  and  impute  not  my  blood  to  the 
country,  nor  to  the  great  city  through  which  I  am  to 
be  drawn  ;  let  no  inquisition  be  made  for  it,  but  if 
any,  and  the  shedding  of  blood  that  is  innocent  must 
be  avenged,  let  the  weight  of  it  fall  upon  those  that 
maliciously  persecute  me  for  righteousness  sake." 

To  this  solemn  and  striking  invocation  Jeffries  bru- 
tally replied  : 

"  I  pray  God  work  in  you  a  temper  fit  to  go  to  the 
other  world,  for  I  see  you  are  not  fit  for  this." 

Conceiving  these  words  were  meant  to  intimate  that 
he  spoke  in  a  disordered  state  of  mind,  Sidney  held 
out  his  hand  and  proudly  answered  : 

*'  My  lord,  feel  my  pulse  and  see  if  I  am  disordered. 
I  bless  God  I  never  was  in  better  temper  than -I  am 
now."''^ 

During  the  interval  between  his  sentence  and  exe- 

*  Alluding  to  this  occurrence  in  his  ''  Apology,"  he  says :  "  And  I  do 
profess  that,  so  far  as  I  do  know  and  did  then  feel  myself,  I  was  never 
in  a  more  quiet  temper;  glory  and  thanks  be  unto  God  forever,  who 
has  filled  me  with  comforts,  and  so  upholds  me,  that  having,  as  I  hope, 
through  Christ,  vanquished  sin,  he  doth  preserve  me  from  the  fear  of 
death.'^ 


CHAPTER  Yin.  273 

cution,  powerful  intercession  was  made  in  his  behalf, 
and  it  was  thought  that  a  commutation  of  his  sen- 
tence might  be  obtained.  Sidney  himself  was  prevail- 
ed upon  to  present  a  second  brief  petition  to  the  king, 
praying  that  his  sentence  might  be  remitted  by  suffer 
ing  him  to  go  beyond  seas  on  giving  security  never  to 
return  to  England.  The  petition,  however,  was  denied ; 
and  the  prisoner,  who  now  expected  nothing  from  the 
mercy  of  his  persecutors,  calmly  and  courageously 
prepared  to  meet  his  fate.  He  drew  up  his  "  Apology 
in  the  day  of  his  death,"  containing  a  faithful  history 
of  his  trial,  and  a  noble  vindication  of  his  principles 
and  actions.  This  paper  he  deposited  with  a  faithful 
servant,  Joseph  Ducasse,  a  Frenchman,  whom  he  had 
brought  with  him  into  England,  and  who,  unlike  his 
rich  and  powerful  relatives,  never  deserted  him.  He 
also  drew  up  a  briefer  statement,  containing  the  sub- 
stance of  his  '*  Apology,"  for  the  purpose  of  delivering 
it  to  the  sheriff  on  the  scaffold,  in  lieu  of  any  speech 
to  the  multitude  that  might  be  expected  of  him.  A 
copy  of  it  he  deposited  for  safe  keeping  with  a  friend, 
fearful  that  the  officer  might  suppress  this  vindication 
of  his  memory.  It  closes  with  an  impressive  and 
solemn  invocation  to  Heaven  to  avert  from  the  nation 
the  evils  that  threatened  it,  and  to  forgive  the  prac- 
tices that  had  brougljt  him  to  the  scaffold.  Nor  was 
the  noble  cause  for  which  he  suffered  forgotten  or  dis- 
avowed with  his  latest  breath  :  *'  Grant  that  I  may 
die  glorifying  thee  for  all  thy  mercies,  and  that  at  the 
last  thou  hast  permitted  me  to  be  singled  out  as  a  wit- 
12* 


274  ALGEKNOK  SIDNEY. 

ness  of  thy  truth,  and  even,  by  the  confession  of  my 
opposers,  for  that  old  cause  in  which  1  was  from  my 
youth  engaged,  and  for  which  thou  hast  often  and 
wonderfully  declared  thyself." 

Henceforth  Sidney  resumed  his  stoicism  of  charac- 
ter, and  manifested  the  utmost  indifference  to  the 
unjust  fate  that  his  enemies  had  prepared  for  him. 
The  warrant  for  his  execution  was  at  last  signed,  but 
in  compliment  to  his  illustrious  family,  it  is  said,  the 
most  barbarous  portions  of  the  sentence  for  high  trea-, 
son  were  remitted,  and  he  was  ordered  simjjly  to  be 
beheaded.  When  the  sheriffs  brought  it  to  him,  he 
examined  it  with  calmness  and  unconcern.  He  told 
them  he  would  not  expostulate  with  them  on  his  own 
account,  for  the  world  was  now  nothing  to  him ;  but 
he  desired  them,  for  their  own  sakes,  to  consider  how 
guilty  they  had  been  in  returning  a  jury  packed  by 
the  solicitors  for  the  Crown.  One  of  the  officers, 
doubtless  conscience-stricken  at  this  reproach,  wept 
when  he  heard  these  words. 

On  the  7th  day  of  December,  1683,  Sidney  was 
executed  on  Tower  Hill.  We  have  a  brief  account  of 
the  transaction  in  the  original  paper  of  the  sheriff, 
preserved  in  the  state  paper  office.  From  it  we  infer 
that  the  victim  met  death  with  all  his  constitu- 
tioijal  intrepidity  and  insensibility  to  fear ;  with  the 
stoicism  of  a  Cato,  and  yet  with  the  confidence  and 
hope  of  one  who  had  made  his  peace  with  God.  "Unlike 
Vane,  he  undertook  to  make  no  harangue,  nor  did  he 
enter  into  any  justification  bf  his  actions  on  the  scaf- 


CHAPTEK  vni.  275 

fold.  There  was  no  parade,  no  display,  no  effort,  as 
there  was  no  shrinking  or  fear  on  the  part  of  the  vic- 
tim. He  uttered  but  a  word  or  two  to  his  execution- 
ers, but  they  were  strikingly  ioipressive  and  full  of 
meaning,  and  such  as  were  calculated  to  live  long  ia 
the  memories  of  those  who  heard  him. 

The  sheriffs  asked  him  at  the  tower  if  he  had  any 
friends  to  accompany  him  on  the  scafl'old  ;  he  said 
none  but  two  servants  of  his  brother. 

They  conducted  him  on  foot  up  to  the  scaffold.  He 
said  nothing  in  all  his  passage. 

As  he  came  up  to  the  scaffold,  he  said,  *'  I  have 
made  my  peace  with  God,  and  have  nothing  to  say  to 
men  ;  but  here  is  a  paper  of  what  I  have  to  say." 

On  being  asked  by  the  sheriff  if  he  should  read  it, 
he  answered  in  the  negative,  and  told  him  if  he  re- 
fused to  take  the  paper  he  would  tear  it..  To  a  ques- 
tion of  the  officer  if  the  writing  was  in  his  own  hand, 
he  replied,  "  Yes." 

Sidney  then  took  off  his  hat,  coat,  and  doublet, 
gave  the  customary  fee  to  the  executioner,  and  said, 
**  1  am  ready  to  die  ;  I  will  give  you  no  farther  trou- 
ble." Observing  the  executioner  grumble,  as  though 
he  had  given  him  too  little,  he  directed  one  of  his 
servants  to  give  him  a  guinea  or  two  more,  which  he 
did.  The  victim  then  knelt  down  for  a  few  moments 
in  silence,  apparently  engaged  in  devotion.  He  then 
calmly  laid  his  head  on  the  block.  The  executioner, 
as  was  customary  in  such  ckses,  asked  him  if  he 
should  rise  ao:a in.     *'Not  till  the  G-eneral  Resur- 


276  ALGEENOK   SIDNEY. 

RECTioN.  Strike  on,"  was  the  laconic  and  sublime 
reply — the  last  words  that  ever  passed  his  lips.  The 
sheriff  reports  that  "  execution  was  done  at  one  blow, 
only  some  skin  with  a  knife  the  executioner  took  off, 
and  so  took  up  his  head  and  showed  it  round  the  scaf- 
fold, which  was  hung  with  mourning,  and  the  floor 
also  covered  with  black,  and  a  black  coffin." 

His  body,  by  order  of  the  secretary  of  state,  was 
delivered  to  his  brother's  servants  who  accompanied 
him  to  the  scaffold,  and  was  the  next  day  privately 
buried  with  his  ancestors  at  Penshurst.  His  remains 
were  subsequently  removed  into  a  small  stone  coffin, 
and  placed  in  front  of  the  family  vault,  with  a  brief 
inscription  engraved  on  a  brass  plate,  containing  only 
his  name,  his  age,  and  the  date  of  his  death.* 

The  condemnation  of  Sidney  has  been  universally 
and  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  atrocious  and 
tyrannical  acts  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II. t  The 
trials  of  Vane  and  the  regicides,  and  of  Russell  and 
Hampden,  if  they  really  equalled,  did  not  exceed  it, 
in,  cold-blooded  .and  almost  fiendish  malignity.  The 
illegality  and  injustice  of  the  proceedings  are,  if  possi- 
ble, more  monstrous  than  their  atrocity.  Sidaey  may 
be  regarded  as  guiltless  of  any  political  crime.  Tak- 
ing the  whole  of  the  testimony  of  Howard,  together 
with  the  hearsay  of  the  other  witnesses,  to  be  abso- 
lutely true,  there  is  no  legal  evidence  of  any   con- 

*  Meadley's  Memoirs.        • 

t  Hume  himself  speaks  of  it  as  "  one  of  the  greatest  blemishes  o 
the  present  reign." 


CHAPTER  vni.  277 

spiracy  for  an  insurrection  in  which  he  was  to  act 
a  part ;  and  even  if  there 'were,  the  conspiracy  is  of 
precisely  the  same  nature  with  that  which,  five  years 
later,  drove  out  the  tyrant  James  11.,  and  called 
"William  and  Mary  to  the  throne.  The  unsuccessful 
conspiracy  becomes  a  treason  ;  the  successful  one  a 
benign  and  necessary  revolution  ;  the  crime  of  the 
proscribed  Sidney,  is  the  glory  of  the  patriot  states- 
men who  wrested  the  crown  from  James  and  placed 
it  on  the  brows  of  the  Prince  of  Orange. 

The  revolution  of  1688,  which  so  fully  vindicated 
the  principles  of  popular  resistance  to  arbitrary 
power  professed  by  Sidney,  placed  the  const itutioa 
and  liberties  of  England  under  the  guardianship  of 
men  who  did  not  fear  to  do  full  justice  to  his  memory, 
and  to  brand,  as  they  deserved,  the  infamous  proceed- 
ings in  his  trial  and  execution.  One  of  the  earli- 
est acts  of  William  and  Mary  was  the  annulling 
of  Sidney's  attainder  on  the  petition  of  his  brothers, 
Philip,  Earl  of  Leicester,  and  Henry,  Viscount  Sid- 
ney. The  act  itself  recites  that  he  was  condemned 
^^  without  sufficient  legal  evidence  of  any  treason 
committed  by  him^^'^  and  that  "  by  a  partial  and  un- 
lust  construction  of  the  statute,  declaring  what  was 
his  treason,  was  most  unjustly  and  wrongfully  con- 
victed and  attainted,  and  afterwards  executed  for  high 
treason."  The  act,  besides  reversing  the  attainder, 
orders  that  "  all  records  and  proceedings  relating  to 
the  said  attainder  be  wholly  cancelled,  and  taken  off 
the  file,  or  otherwise  defaced  or  obliterated,  to  the  in- 


278   *  ALGEENON  SIDNEY 

tent  that  the  same  may  not  be  visible  in  after  ages^ 
It  is  stated  by  Lord  Brougham,  in  a  speech  delivered 
by   him  in  the  House  of  Commons,  in   June,  1824, 
and  in  which  he  denounced  ''those  execrable  attain- 
ders of  Russell  and  Sidney,  that  the  committee  of  the 
House  of  Lords  did  not  scruple  to  use  the  word  mur- 
der as  applicable  to  these  executions,'-  and  that  on  the 
journals  of  that  house  stands  the  appointment  of  the 
committee  "  to  inquire  of  the  advisers  and  prosecutors 
of  the   murder   of  Lord    Russell    and    Col.    Sidney." 
Such  was  the  first  act  of   public  justice  done  to  the 
memory  of  this   illustrious   man.     From  that  day  to 
this,  it  has  been  difficult  to  find  an  apologist  of  the 
bloody  deed,   either  on  the   score  of  its  justice,   its 
legality,  or  its  political  necessity.     The  most  eminent 
jurists,  the  ablest  and   most  enlightened  statesmen, 
have  united  in  censuring  the  act,  and  in  execrating 
the  vile  instruments  of  a  viler  government,  by  whom 
it  was  done.'^     In  so  doing,  they  have  but  given  ex- 
pression  to  the   general  judgment   of -mankind.     No 
where,  perhaps,  has  that  judgment  been  more  truly  or 
forcibly  pronounced,  than  on  the  page  of  that  fragment 
of  history!  left  by  the  noblest  of  British  statesmen, 
Charles  James  Fox.     Aft^^r  speaking  of  the  execution 
of  Russell  as  a  '-most  flagrant  violation  of  law  and 

*  The  learned  Sir  John  Hawles  remarks,  "  He  was  merely  talked  to 
death  under  the  notion  of  a  Commonwealth's  man,  and  found  guilty  by 
a  jury  who  were  not  much  more  proper  judges  in  the  case  than  they 
would  have  been  if  what  he  had  written  had  been  done  by  him  in 
Syriac  or  Arabic." 

t  History  of  the  Stuarts,  p.  47 


CHAPTER  vin.  279 

justice,"  Mr.  Fox  observes  :  ^*  The  proceedings  in  Sid- 
ney's case  were  still  more  detestable.  The  production 
of  papers  containing  speculative  opinions  upon  govern- 
ment and  liberty,  written  long  before,  and,  perhaps, 
never  even  intended  to  be  published,  together  with 
the  use  made  of  those  papers,  in  considering  them  as 
a  substitute  for  the  second  witness  to  the  overt  act, 
exhibited  such  a  compound  of  wickedness  and  non- 
sense, as  is  hardly  to  be  paralleled  in  the  history  of 
juridical  tyranny.  But  the  validity  of  pretences  was 
little  attended  to  at  that  time  in  the  case  of  a  person 
whom  the  court  had  devoted  to  destruction ;  and  upon 
evidence  such  as  has  been  stated,  was  this  great  and 
excellent  man  condemned  to  die." 

Even  the  historian  Hume,  the  ready  apologist  of 
monarchy  in  its  exercise  of  arbitrary  power,  where 
apology  is  possible,  does  not  undertake  to  justify  or 
to  extenuate  this  act.  But  in  that  spirit  of  adulation 
towards  the  Stuarts  which  marks  his  writings,  he 
attempts  to  throw  the  blame  entirely  upon  the  jury, 
to  exonerate  the  government,  and  particularly  to  jus- 
tify the  criminal  inaction  of  the  king.  Hume  admits 
that  the  evidence  against  Sidney  was  not  legal,  and 
adds,  that  the  jury  who  condemned  him  were,  for 
that  reason,  very  blameable  ;  "  but,"  he  remarks,  "that 
the  king  should  interpose  to  pardon  a  man  who  was  un- 
doubtedly guilty,  who  had  ever  been  a  most  invete- 
rate enemy  to  the  royal  family,  and  who  lately  had 
even  abused  the  king's  clemency,  might  be  an  act  of 


280  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

heroic  generosity^  but  can  never  be  regarded  as  a 
necessary  and  indispensable  dutyP 

Mr.  Hume  could  not  have  read  very  attentively  Ihe 
trial  of  Sidney,  and  especially  the  charge  of  the 
judge,  or  he  never  vi^ould  have  held  the  jury  wholly 
responsible  for  the  verdict.  Under  the  circumstances 
of  the  case,  perhaps  the  jury  were  not  so  very  blame- 
able  ;  certainly  they  could  not  have  rendered  any 
other  verdict  without  disregarding  totally  the  direc- 
tions of  the  court.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Jeffries 
very  carefully  laid  down  the  proposition,  that  while 
the  jury  were  the  judges  of  the  fact^  they  were 
bound  to  take  the  law  from  the  court.  He  then 
charged  them,  as  matter  of  law,  that  the  writing 
produced  was  a  *'  sufficient  evidence"  of  treason. 
*•  It  is  not,"  he  says,  "  upon  two^  but  it  is  upon  greater 
evidence  than  twenty -two,  if  you  believe  this  book 
ivas  writ  by  him.^^  The  only  question  of  fact,  there- 
fore, left  to  the  jury  to  pass  upon,  was,  whether  the 
manuscript  had  been  written  by  the  prisoner  or  not ; 
everything  else  having  been  taken  out  of  their  hands 
by  the  court.  We  do  not  see  how  the  jury,  under 
their  oaths,  could  find  this  fact  differently  from  what 
they  did.  It  is  true  Sidney  had  objected  to  the  evi- 
dence offered  to  prove  the  writing  by  comparison  of 
hands,  and  the  objection,  though  technical,  was  a 
valid  one  ;  but  the  court  overruled  it,  and  charged  the 
jury  that  the  evidence  was  competent.  Besides,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  there  was  something  more  than  mere 
comparison  of  handwriting  ;  for  the  first  witness  swore 


CHAPTER  vni.  281 

that  he  had  seen  the  prisoner  write  the  endorsements 
upon  several  bills  of  exchange.  A  modern  writer, 
eminent  as  authority  upon  the  law  of  evidence,''^ 
speaking  of  this  case,  remarks,  that  though  it  may  be 
objected  to  the  testimony  of  the  last  two  witnesses 
that  the  endorsements  mentioned  by  them  were  not 
sufficiently  proved  to  have  been  written  by  the  pris- 
oner, that  objection  will  not  apply  to  the  other  wit- 
ness, whose  evidence  was  certainly  admissible.  The 
ignorant  and  deluded  jury,  therefore,  whom  alone 
Mr.  Hume  considers  blameable,  were,  in  reality,  excus- 
able, if  not  justifiable.  The  only  fact  left  for  them  to 
find,  they  found  affirmatively,  upon  competent,  per- 
haps sufficient  evidence  ;  at  all  events,  no  jury  in  a 
civil  Qase  upon  the  same  state  of  facts,  and  under  the 
charge  of  the  court,  could  have  failed  to  pronounce 
that  the  writing  was  the  prisoner's.  The  bench, 
and  not  the  jury-box,  was  the  effective  instrument 
which  accomplished  the  nefarious  designs  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Jeffries  insisted  upon  the  maxim,  "  scribere 
est  agere*'' — "to  write  is  to  act,"  and  laid  it  down  as  a 
principle  of  law  applicable  to  this  case.  T/pon  this 
point  he  directed  the  verdict  of  the  jury.  The  per- 
version of  law  was  monstrous  and  glaring.  The  prin- 
ciple had  not  the  remotest  application  to  Sidney's 
case,  and  has  been  so  laid  down  by  the  ablest  writers 
on  criminal  law  since  that  time.t  Sidney  was  lite- 
rally murdered  under  color  of  law,  and   scarcely  the 

*  Phillips — Law  of  Evidence,  vol.  i.  p.  485. 
t  Foster's  Cr.  L.  198.  4  Black.  Com.  80. 


282  ALGERNON  SYDNEY. 

forms  of  a  judicial  proceeding  were  preserved  on  his 
triat. 

But  though  the  guilt  of  the  jury,  if,  indeed,  they 
may  be  pronounced  guilty  at  all,  was  as  nothing  in 
comparison  with  the  guilt  of  the  corrupt  bench  before 
which  he  was  tried,  yet  the  infamy  and  wickedness 
of  the  bench  itself  did  not  exceed,  if  it  equalled,  that 
of  the  government  which  ordered  and  directed  the 
prosecution.  Jeffries,  himself,  was  the  mere  tool  and 
hireling  of  the  court.  He  was  influenced  and  directed 
upon  the  trial  by  the  king  and  his  counsellors,  par- 
ticularly the  Duke  of  York.  He  had  been  appointed 
by  the  king,  who  well  knew  his  detestable  character, 
to  perform  just  such  services  as  these.  For  similar 
services  he  was  afterwards  rewarded  by  a  ring  from 
the  hands  of  his  royal  master,  as  a  peculiar  mark 
of  favor.  This  act  of  his  was  looked  upon  with 
singular  complacency  by  the  careless,  witty,  and 
debonair  monarch,  and  was  regarded  with  savage  and 
vindictive  exultation  by  his  brother  James.  The 
memory  of  Charles  Stuart  can  never  be  cleansed  from 
the  stain  that  has  been  left  upon  it  by  the  innocent  blood 
of  Algernon  Sidney.  Posterity  will  hold  him  as  an 
accomplice,  if  not  a  principal,  in  the  crime,  as  he  was 
in  that  other  crime,  the  death  of  Vane,  whom  he 
directed  his  chancellor  to  put  "  honestly  out  of  the. 
way,"  even  at  the  trifling  expense  of  violating  the 
faith  which  he  had  solemnly  pledged.  And  yet  such 
is  the  monarch,  whose  conduct  in  refusing  to  interpose 
his  pardon  upon  a  conviction  which  his  creatures  had 


CHAPTER  vm.  283 

so  infamously  procured,  is  not  only  palliated  but  justi- 
fied by  a  historian  so  eminent,  and  in  some  respects 
so  impartial,  as  Mr.  Hume.  The  indignant  comment 
upon  this  passage,  by  the  illustrious  statesman  whose 
words  we  have  just  quoted,  may  be  properly  added  : 
*'  As  well  might  we  palliate  the  murders  of  Tiberius, 
who  seldom  put  to  death  his  victims  without  a  pre- 
vious decree  of  the  senate.  The  moral  of  all  this 
seems  to  be,  that  whenever  a  prince  can,  by  intimi- 
dation, corruption,  illegal  evidence,  or  other  such 
means,  obtain  a  verdict  against  a  subject  whom  he 
dislikes,  he  may  cause  him  to  be  executed  without 
any  breach  of  indispensable  duty — nay,  that  it  is  an 
act  of  heroic  generosity  if  he  spares  him." 


CHAPTEE   IX. 

The  writings  of  Sidney — Introductory  remarks — Extracts — Common 
notions  of  liberty  are  derived  from  nature — Men  are  by  nature  free — 
Choice  of  forms  of  government  originally  left  to  the  people — The 
social  contract  considered — Such  as  enter  into  society  in  some  degree 
diminish  their  liberty — The  natural  equality  of  man — Virtue  only 
gives  a  preference  of  one  man  to  another — There  is  no  hereditary 
right  of  dominion — Men  join  together  and  frame  greater  or  less  socie- 
ties, and  give  them,  such  forms  and  laws  as  they  please — They  who 
have  the  right  of  choosing  a  king,  have  the  right  of  making  a  king — 
As  to  the  forms  of  government-^Those  best  which  comprise  the  three 
simple  elements — Democracy  considered — Sidney  in  favor  of  a  popu- 
lar or  mixed  government — Civil  governments  admit  of  changes  in 
their  superstructure — Man's  natural  love  of  liberty  is  tempered  by 
reason — Seditions,  tumults,  and  vicars  considered — In  what  cases  justi- 

-  fied — When  necessary  to  overthrow  a  tyranny,  or  depose  a  wicked 
magistrate — The  right  of  insurrection  traced  to  the  social  contract — 
The  contracts  between  the  magistrates  and  the  nations  which  created 
them,  were  real,  gplemn,  and  obligatory — Same  subject  continued — 
The  general  revolt  of  a  nation  cannot  be  called  a  rebellion — Duties  of 
magistrates  as  representatives  of  the  people — No  people  that  is  not 
free  can  substitute  delegates — The  representative  system — Legislative 
power  not  to  be  trusted  in  the  hands  of  any  who  are  not  bound  to 
obey  the  laws  they  make — Reflections  on  the  writings  .and  political 
opinions  of  Sidney — The  sincerity  of  his  motives — His  religious  sen- 
timents— His  private  character — Conclusion. 

Tn  bringing  to   a  close  the  narrative  of  the  public 
career  of  Algernon  Sidney,  little  remains  to  be  added 


CHAPTER  IX.  285 

respecting  a  character  whose  best  commentary  is  to 
be  found  in  the  actions  of  a  life  of  entire  and  rigid 
consistency,  and  whose  finest  illustration  is  in  his 
published  correspondence  and  other  writings.  His 
poiical  opinions,  his  sentiments  respecting  government, 
human  rights  and  public  liberty,  have  already  in  the 
progress  of  this  work  been  freely  discussed.  They 
will  be  more  fully  understood  by  the  extracts  from  his 
once  celebrated  Discourses  concerning'  Government^ 
contained  in  the  present  chapter.  These  extracts  have 
been  made  rather  with  the  view  of  illustrating  Sidney's 
opinions  than  of  presenting  a  connected  chain  of  his 
argument,  or  of  doing  full  justice  to  the  subject  mat- 
ter of  the  discourses.  The  plan  of  our  work  necessa- 
rily forbids  the  idea  of  attempting  to  do  more  than  to 
glean  here  and  there  from  these  writings  a  few  general 
truths  and  maxims,  and  to  present  such  brief  passages 
only  as  will  serve  to  convey  to  the  mind  of  the  reader, 
in  Sidney's  own  language,  his  views  of  popular  liberty, 
and  of  the  origin  and  ground  of  government. 

A  few  remarks  in  relation  to  the  nature  and  object 
of  the  work,  may  be  properly  made  here.  The  book 
is  an  answer  to  Sir  Robert  Filmer's  Patriarcha,  and 
is  designed  to  refute  that  absurd  theory  of  government 
which,  under  the  name  of  the  patriarchal  system^ 
was  so  resolutely  asserted  under  the  Stuart  dynasty, 
and  was  never  finally  abandoned  in  England,  until  the 
last  of  that  hapless  family  was  driven  from  the  throne 
by^  the  Revolution  of  1688.  The  ideas  upon  which 
the  work  of  Sidney  was  based,  were  first  promulgated 


SB'S  ALOEENON  Sn>NET. 

in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  and  were  strenuously  insisted 
upon  by  the  high  churchmen  and  obsequious  courtier 
of  that  day.  It  was  maintained  that  a  hereditary 
monarchy,  as  opposed  to  a  limited  or  popular  govern- 
ment, was  instituted  by  the  Supreme  Being  ;  that  the 
authority  of  the  hereditary  prince  was  absolute,  his 
person  was  sacred,  and  his  throne  hedged  round  by  a 
higher  power  than  constitutions  or  the  will  of  the 
nation.  Passive  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  sovereign, 
and  non-resistance  on  the  part  of  the  people,  were  the 
doctrines  inculcated  by  this  theory.  The  king  could 
do  no  wrong  ;  or  as  James  I.  expressed  it—'*  to  con- 
test the  power  of  kings  is  to  dispute  the  power  of 
Grod."*  The  most  celebrated  philosoper  of  his  age, 
Thomas  Hobbes,  pushed  this  theory  still  further,  and 
maintained  that  the  will  of  the  monarch  was  the 
standard  of  right  and  wrong,  and  that  every  subject 
ought  to  be  ready  to  profess  any  form  of  religion  which 
the  reigning  dynasty  chose  to  ordain — a  theory,  Hume 
himself  does  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  the  offspring  of 
a  philosopher,  whose  politics  are  fitted  only  to  pro- 
mote tyranny,  and  whose  ethics  to  encourage  licen- 
tiousness. 

It  was  also  maintained  by  the  patriarchal  systeni, 

*  It  may  be  said,  indeed,  with  truth,  that  the  doctrine  was  not  even 
then  finally  abandoned.  More  than  a  century  afterwards,  England,  under 
the  administration  of  Pitt,  practically  asserted  it  when  she  joined  the 
coalition  to  put  down  popular  government  in  France.  It  was  the  sys- 
tem of  Filmer — the  jus  divinum — as  opposed  to  the  French  declaration 
o  rights,  which  turned  Europe  into  one  vast  encampment  and  battle 
ground  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 


CHAPTER  IX.  287 

that  the  laws  which  limited  the  king's  prerogative 
were  merely  temporary  noncessions,  which  might,  at 
any  moment,  be  revokeil,  fov  a  king  cnuld  make  no 
contract  with  his  subjects  which  was  binding  upon 
him.  Primogeniture  was  regarded  as  a  divine  institu- 
tion, and  the  lineal  heir  of  the  legitimate  prince  was 
entitled  to  the  throne  of  right,  though  centuries  of  ad- 
verse possession  intervened. 

These  doctrines  w^ere  exactly  suited  to  the  times  of 
the  Stuarts.  James  I.  claimed  to  be  the  heir  of 
Egbert  and  "William  the  Conqueror,  and  consequently, 
by  the  law  of  primogeniture,  held  the  throne  by  a 
better  title  than  Elizabeth  or  Henry  YII.  had  done. 
It  became  the  fashion  among  the  statesmen  and  eccle- 
siastics of  that* day,  who  wished  to  flatter  the  monarch, 
to  promulgate  and  defend  these  ideas  ;  and  they  con- 
tinued steadily  to  advance  down  to  the  period  of  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolution.  That  event,  however, 
checked  for  a  time  the  further  progress  of  these  absurd 
political  dogmas.  The  prompt  and  energetic  resist- 
ance of  the  Parliament,  the  revolt  of  the  nation,  and 
the  execution  of  the  king,  were  terrible  commentaries 
on  the  patriarchal  system.  The  active  and  vigorous 
intellect  of  the  age  then  launched  out  into  the  boldest 
and  freest  speculation.  Milton  brought  all  the  strength 
of  his  great  mind  to  the  defence  of  freedom  of  intellect, 
freedom  of  the  press,  and  popular  sovereignty  :  Har- 
rington employed  his  ingenious  pen  in  sketching  his 
plans  of  an  ideal  and  peii*ect  republic  ;  while  the  more 
practical  and  profound  genius  of  Yane  sought  out  the 


288  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

true  foundation  of  free  government — a  written  consti- 
tution, and  equal  popular  representation. 

The  restoration  of  the  monarchy  brought  with  it 
the  reign  of  despotic  ideas,  the  philosophy  of  Hobbes, 
and  the  patriarchal  theory  of  government.  Sir  Robert 
Filmer  laying  hold  of  these  ideas  of  the  two  last 
reigns,  moulded  them  anew  into  a  political  system, 
which  he  published  to  the  w^orld,  and  which  found 
singular  favor  with  the  enthusiastic  royalists.  It  was 
in  answer  to  this  work  of  Filmer  that  Sidney's  dis- 
courses upon  government  were  written.  It  is  remark- 
able as  being  one  of  the  earliest  if  not  the  first  com- 
plete and  systematic  treatise,  by  any  English  writer, 
on  the  origin  and  ground  of  government,  which  main- 
tains the  true  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
— traces  the  origin  of  all  just  power  to  the  people — 
vindicates  th§  right  of  the  nation  to  frame  its  own 
laws  and  institutions,  and  defends  the  doctrine  of  the 
*'  social  compact"  in  opposition  to  that  of  hereditary 
tyranny  ordained  by  a  higher  law  than  the  popular 
will 

At  first  glance  it  is  almost  a  matter  of  amazement 
that  a  theory  so  absurd  and  inconsistent  as  the  patri- 
archal system^  should  have  seriously  occupied  a  mind 
like  Sidney's  in  its  refutation.  But  our  wonder  ceases 
W'hen  we  find  the  dogmas  of  Filmer  universally  dis- 
seminated throughout  the  kingdom.  They  were 
avowed  in  the  Parliament,  proclaimed  from  the  bench, 
taught  in  the  church  and  universities.  Doctrines  like 
Sidney's  were  looked  upon  by  some  with  horror  as  re- 


CHAPTER  IX.  289 

volutionary  or  treasonable  ;  by  others  with  an  aversion 
and  contempt,  such  as  the  highest- toned  conservative 
of  our  day  entertains  for  the  doctrines  of  Fourier. 
Long  after  the  discourses  concerning'  government 
were  written,  and  but  a  few  years  before  they  were 
first  published  to  the  world,  the  public  mind  of 
England  yet  succumbed  to  the  monstrous  tenets  of  the 
patriarchal  system.  The  pulpits  of  the  established 
church  resounded  with  homilies  against  the  sin  of 
revolution,  and  with  lessons  inculcating  the  principles 
of  non-resistance.  Jeffries,  from  the  bench  in  West- 
minster Hall  declared  that  by  the  common  law  and 
statutes  of  England  the  principles  of  Sidney  were 
treasonable ;  and  on  the  very  day  of  Russell's  death, 
the  university  of  Oxford  by  a  solemn  public  act  adop- 
ted the  doctrines  of  Filmer,  and  ordered  the  political 
works  of  Buchanan,  Milton,  and  Baxter  to  be  burned.* 
It  was  but  a  few  years  after  this,  when  the  violence 
and  tyranny  of  James  II.  created  a  revolution  in  the 
public  mind  which  drove  that  monarch  from  his  king- 
dom, and  practically  overturned  the  whole  pernicious 
theory  of  government  which  the  high  tories  and 
churchmen  of  that  day  had  advocated.  The  practical 
working  of  the  system  under  the  last  of  the  house  of 
Stuart  was  too  much  for  the  warmest  disciple  of 
Filmer  to  endure.  Even  the  loyalty  of  the  Church  of 
England  was  shaken,  and  from  preaching  passive 
obedience,  it  set  the  example  of  resistance  to  the  royal 
prerogative.     The   Parliament,  on  the   abdication   of 

*  Macaulay,  Hist.  Eng.  vol.  I.  p.  97.' 

13 


290  ALGEETTON  SIDNEY. 

James,  embodied  in  a  solemn  act  Sidney's  funda- 
mental idea  of  popular  sovereignty,  by  declaring  that 
James  II.  had  endeavored  "to  subvert  the  constitotion 
of  the  kingdom  by  breaking  the  original  contract 
between  king  and  people."  Despite  the  doctrine 
of  legitimacy  the  throne  was  declared  vacant.  The 
Parliament,  too,  reversed  the  law  laid  down  by  Jeffries 
in  the  king's  bench,  by  annulling  the  attainder  of 
Sidney,  and  declaring  that  he  was  most  unjustly 
and  wrongfully  convicted  and  executed  for  high 
treason. 

It  was  then*  that  the  political  writings  of  Sidney 
were  published  to  the  worlds  and  from  that  day  they 
have  been  read,  studied,  and  admired  by  the  most  en- 
lightened statesmen  and  civilians. 

In  his  preface  to  the  first  edition,  Toland  remarks 
that  Sidney  left  a  large  and  a  lesser  treatise  written 
against  the  principles  contained  in  Filmer's  book.  It 
was  a  portion  of  the  smaller  treatise  that  had  been 
produced  in  evidence  against  him  on  the  trial.  It  was 
there  said  that  the  smaller  treatise  neither  was,  and 
probably  never  would  have  been  finished.  The  pub- 
lished discourses  on  government  comprise  only  the 
larger  treatise. 

With  these  explanatory  remarks  we  present  to  the 
reader  such  passages  from  the  work  as  will  serve  to 
illustrate  the   opinions   of  Sidney  and   the   political 

*  The  work  first  appeared  in  1698.  It  was  published  by  Toland, 
who  also  collected  and  published  Milton's  prose  works  and  Harrington's 
OceancL,  &c. 


CHAPTEE  rx.  291 

system  he  advocated.    ,It   opens  with  the  following 
appropriate  introduotion  : — 

"Having  lately  seen  a  book  entitled  "  Patiiarcha,"  written  by 
Sir  Robert  Fiimer,  concerning  the  universal  and  undistinguished 
right  of  all  kings,  I  thought  a  time  of  leisure  might  be  well  em- 
ployed in  examining  his  doctrine,  and  the  questions  arising  from 
it,  which  seem  so  far  to  concern  all  mankind,  that,  besides  the  in- 
fluence upon  our  future  life,  they  may  be  said  to  comprehend  all 
that  in  this  world  deserves  to  be  cared  for.  If  he  say  true,  there 
is  but  one  government  in  the  world  that  can  have  anything  of  jus- 
tice in  it;  and  those  who  have  hitherto  been  esteemed  the  best 
and  wisest  of  mankind,  for  having  constituted  commonwealths  or 
kingdoms,  and  taken  much  pains  so  to  proportion  the  powers  of 
several  magistracies,  that  they  might  all  concur  in  procuring  the 
public  good ;  or  so  to  divide  the  powers  between  the  magistrates 
and  people,  that  a  well  regulated  harmony  might  be  preserved  in 
the  whole,  were  the  most  unjust  and  foolish  of  men.  They  were 
not  builders,  but  overthrows,  of  government.  Their  business 
was  to  set  up  aristocratical,  democratica',  or  mixed  governments, 
in  opposition  to  that  monarchy,  which,  by  the  immutable  laws  of 
God  and  nature  is  imposed  upon  mankind,  or  presumptuously  to 
put  shackles  upon  the  monarch,  who,  by  the  same  laws,  is  to  be 
absolute  and  uncontrolled." 

"  According  to  Sir  Robert  Fiimer,"  Sidney  continues,  "  men  aro 
not  to  inquire  what  conduces  to  their  own  good.  God  and  nature 
have  put  us  into  a  way  from  which  we  are  not  to  swerve.  We 
are  not  to  live  to  him,  nor  to  ourselves,  but  to  the  master- that  he 
hath  set  over  us.  One  government  is  established  over  all,  and  no 
limits  can  be  set  to  the  power  of  the  person  that  manages  it.  This 
is  the  prerogative,  or  as  another  author  of  the  same  stamp  calls  it, 
*  the  royal  charter  granted  to  kings  by  God.''  " 

*  I  have  been  sometimes  apt  to  wonder  how  things  of  this  na- 


292  AL€^EENON  SIDNEY. 

lure  could  enter  Into  the  head  of  any  man  ;  or  if  no  wickedness  or 
folly  be  80  great  but  some  may  fall  into  it,  I  could  not  well  con- 
ceive why  they  should  publish  it  I.  the  world.  But  these  thoughts 
ceased  when  I  considered  that  a  people,  from  all  ages  in  love  with 
liberty,  and  desirous  to  maintain  their  own  privileges,  could  never 
be  brought  to  resign  them,  unless  they  were  made  to  believe  that 
in  conscience  they  ought  to  do  it;  which  could  not  be  unless  they 
"W'ere  also  persuaded  that  there  was  a  law  set  to  all  mankind, 
which  none  might  transgress,  and  which  put  the  examination  of 
all  those  matters  out  of  their  power.  This  is  our  author's  work. 
By  this  it  will  appear  whose  throne  he  seeks  to  advance,  and 
whose  servant  he  is^  whilst  he  pretends  to  serve  the  king." 

The  common  notions  of  liberty  are  not  from  school  divines,  hut 
from  nature. — Extract,  Chap.  I.,  Sec.  1. 

In  this  section,  Sidney  refutes  the  doctrine  of 
Filmer,  that  the  notions  men  entertain  of  liberty  are 
derived  from  the  schoolmen  and  from  the  teachings 
of  the  Puritan  divines.  After  some  general  remarks 
on  this  point,  he  thus  vindicates  the  natural  right  of  a 
people  to  govern  themselves  : — 

"  Did  the  people  make  the  king,  or  the  king  make  the  people  ? 
Is  the  king  for  the  people,  or  the  people  for  the  king  ?  Did  God 
create  the  Hebrews  that  Saul  might  reign  over  them  ?  or  did  they, 
from  an  opinion  of  procuring  their  own  good,  ask  a  king  that 
might  judge  them  and  fight  their  battles  ?  If  God's  interposition, 
which  shall  be  hereafter  explained,  do  alter  the  case,  did  the  Ro- 
mans make  Romulus,  Numa,  Tullus,  Hostilius,  and  Tarquinius 
Priscus,  kings,  or  did  they  make  or  beget  the  Romans  1  If  they 
were  made  kings  by  the  Romans,  'tis  certain  they  that  made  them 
sought  their  own  good  in  so  doing;  and  if  they  were  made  by, 
and  for  the  city  and  people,  I  desire  to  know  if  it  was  not  better 
that  when  their  successors  departed  from  the  end  of  their  insti- 


CHAPTEE  JX.  293 

tution,  by  endeavoring  to  destroy  it,  or  all  that  was  good  in  it,  they 
should  be  censured  aird  rejected,  than  be  permitted  to  ruin  that  people 
for  whose  good  they  were  created.  Was  it  more  just  that  Caligula 
or  Nero  should  be  suffered  to  destroy  the  poor  remains  of  the  Ro- 
man nobility  and  people,  with  the  nations  subject  to  that  empire, 
than  that  the  race  of  such  monsters  should  be  extinguished,  and  a 
great  part  of  mankind,  especially  the  best,  against  whom  they 
were  most  fierce,  preserved  by  their  deaths. 

"  I  presume  our  author  thought  these  questions  might  be  easily 
decided,  and  that  no  more  was  required  to  show  the  forementioned 
assertions  were  not  all  desperate,  than  to  examine  the  ground  of 
them  ;  but  he  seeks  to  divert  us  from  this  inquiry,  by  j>roposing 
the  dreadful  consequences  of  subjecting  kings  to  the  censures  of 
their  people,  whereas  no  consequence  can  destroy  any  truth  ;  and 
the  worst  of  this  is,  that  if  it  were  received,  some  princes  might 
be  restrained  from  doing  evil,  or  punished  if  they  will  not  be  re- 
strained. We  are,  therefore,  only  to  consider  whether  the  people, 
senate,  or  any  magistracy,  made  by  and  for  the  people,  have,  or 
can  have,  such  a  right;  for  if  they  have,  whatsoever  the  con- 
sequences may  be,  it  must  stand  ;  and  as  the  one  tends  to  the  good 
of  mankind,  in  restraining  the  lusts  of  wicked  kings,  the  other 
exposes  them,  without  remedy,  to  the  fury  of  the  most  savage  of 
all  bea.^ts.  lam  not  ashame  I  in  this  to  concur  with  Buchanan, 
Calvin,  or  Bellarmine,  arid,  without  envy,  leave  Tilmer  and  his 
associates  the  glory  of  maintaining  the  contrary." 

*  *  *  #  *  i^ 

"  The  productions  of  Laud,  Manwaring,  Sibthorp,  Hobbes,  Fil- 
mer,  and  Heylin.  seem  to  have  been  reserved  as  an  additional  curse 
to  complete  the  shame  and  misery  of  our  age  and  country.  Those 
who  had  wit  and  learning,  with  something  of  ingenuity  and 
modesty,  though  they  believed  that  nations  might  possibly  make 
an  ill  use  of  their  power,  and  were  very  desirous  to  maintain  the 
cause  of  kings,  as  far  as  they  could  put  any  good  color  upon  it ; 
yet  never  denied  that  some  had  suffered  justly  (which  could  not 
be,  if  there  were  no  power  of  judging  them),  nor  ever  asserted 


294:  ALGEEXON   SIDNEY. 

anything  that  might  arm  them  with  an  irresistible  power  of  doing 
mischief —animate  them  to  persist  in  the  most  flagitious  courses, 
with  assurance  of  perpetual  impunity,  or  engage  nations  in  an 
inevitable  necessity  of  suffering  all  manner  of  outrages.  But 
Filmer,  Heyiin,  and  their  associates,  scorning  to  be  restrained  by 
such  considerations,  boldly  lay  the  axe  to  the  root  of  the  tree, 
and  rightly  enough  affirm,  '  that  the  whole  fabric  of  that  which 
they  call  popular  sedition,  would  fall  to  the  ground  if  the  prin- 
ciple of  natural  liberty  were  removed.  And,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  whole  fabric  of  t3n-anny  will  be 
much  weakened,  if  we  prove  that  nations  have  a  right  to  make 
their  own  laws,  constitute  their  own  magistrates,  and  that  such  as 
are  so  constituted  owe  an  account  of  their  actions  to  those  by 
whom  and  for  whom  they  were  appointed." 

God  leaves  to  man  the  choice  of  forms  in  government^  and 
those  who  constitute  one  form  may  abrogate  it. — Chap.  I., 
Sec.  5. 

"  But  Sir  Robert  'desires  to  make  observations  on  Bellarmine's 
words,  before  he  examines  or  refutes  them.'  And,  indeed,  it  were 
not  possible  to  make  such  stuff  of  his  doctrine  as  he  does,  if  he 
had  examined,  or  did  understand  it.  First,  he  very  wittily  con- 
clu'ies,  'that  if,- by  the  law  of  God,  the  *power  be  immediately  in 
the  people,  God  is  the  author  of  democracy.'  And  why  not  as 
■well  as  of  a  tyranny  ?  Is  there  anything  in  it  repugnant  to  the 
being  of  God'?  Is  there  more  reason  to  impute  to  God  Caligula's 
monarchy  than  the  democracy  of  Athens  ?  or  is  it  more  for  the 
glory  of  God  to  assert  his  presence  with  the  Ottoman  or  French 
monarchs,  than  with  the  popular  governments  of  the  Switzers 
and  Grisons  1  Is  pride,  malice,  luxury,  and  violence  so  suitable 
to  his  being,  that  they  who  exercise  them  are  to  be  reputed  his 
ministers'?  And  is  modesty,  humility,  equality,  and  justice  so 
contiary  to  his  nature,  that  they  who  live  in  them  should  be 
thought  his  enemies  I  Is  there  any  absurdity  in  saying  that  since 
God  in  goodness  and  mercy  to  mankind  hath,  with  an  equal  hand, 


CHAPTER  IX.  295 

given  to  all  the  benefit  of  liberty,  with  some  measure  of  under- 
standing how  to  employ  it,  it  is  lawful  for  any  nation,  as  occasion 
shall  require,  to  give  the  exercise^f  that  power  to  one  or  more 
men,  under  certain  limitations  and  conditions,  or  to  retain  it  to 
themselves  if  they  think  it  good  for  them  1  If  this  may  be  done; 
we  are  at  an  end  of  all  controversies  concerning  one  form  of  gov- 
ernment established  by  God,  to  which  all  mankind  must  submit; 
and  we  may  safely  conclude  that,  having  given  to  all  men,  in 
some  degree,  a  capacity  of  judging  what  is  good  for  themselves, 
he  hath  granted  to  all  likewke  a  liberty  of  inventing  such  forms  as 
please  them  best,  without  favorinfr  one  more  than  another. 

The  conclusion  here  arrived  at  is  precisely  that 
which  the  statesmen  who  achieved  our  own  indepen- 
dence laid  down  in  the  *'  Declaration'*  as  an  elemen- 
tary political  truth,  namely,  that  governments  are 
instituted  among  men  deriving'  their  just  pov^ers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed.  The  same  simple 
and  direct  proposition  was  subsequently  put  forth  as 
the  basis  of  the  French  declaration  of  rights,  and 
also  in  that  able  manifesto  of  the  national  assembly, 
drawn  up  by  Condorcet,  and  published  to  the  world, 
vindicating  the  revolution  and  the  right  of  a  people 
to  "  alter  or  abolish"  a  government  that  had  become 
oppressive.  This  right,  which  is  an  obvious  conse- 
quence of  the  doctrine  already  asserted,  Sidney  also 
discusses  and  boldly  avows. 

*'  The  next  point  is  subtle,  and  he  thinks  thereby  to  have  brought 
Bellarmine,  and  those  who  agree  with  his  principles,  to  a  nonplus. 
He  doubts  who  shall  judge  of  the  lawful  cause  of  changing  the 
government,  and  says — '  It  is  a  pestilent  conclusion  to  place  that 
power  in  the  multitude.'  But  why  should  this  be  esteemed  pesti- 
lent,  or  to  whom  ?    If  the  allowance   of  such  a  power  in  the 


296  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

Senate  was  pestilent  to  Nero,  it  was  beneficial  to  mankind ;  and 
the  denial  of  it,  which  would  have  given  to  Nero  an  opportunity 
of  continuing  in  his  villanies,  would  have  been  pestilent  to  the 
best  men,  whom  he  endeavored  to  destroy,  and  to  all  others  that 
received  benefit  from  them.  But  this  question  depends  upon  ano- 
ther ;  for  if  governments  are  constituted  for  the  pleasure,  great- 
ness, or  profit  of  one  man,  he  must  not  be  interrupted  \  for  the 
opposing  of  his  will,  is  to  overthrow  the  institution.  On  the  other 
side,  if  the  good  of  the  governed  be  sought,  care  must  be  taken 
that  the  end  be  accomplished,  though  it  be  with  the  prejudice  of 
the  governor.  If  the  power  be  originally  in  the  multitude,  and 
one  or  more  men  to  whom  the  exercise  of  .it,  or  part  of  it,  was  com- 
mitted., had  no  more  than  their  brethren,  till  it  was  conferred  on 
him  or  them,  it  cannot  be  believed  that  rational  creatures  would 
advance  one  or  a  few  of  their  equals  above  themselves^  unless  in 
consideration  of  their  own  good  ;  and  then  I  find  no  inconvenience 
in  leaving  to  them  a  right  of  judging,  whether  this  be  duly  per- 
formed or  not.  We  say  in  general,  '  he  that  institutes  may  abro- 
gate^'"' most  especially  when  the  institution  is  not  only  by,  but  for, 
himself.  If  the  multitude  therefore  do  institute  the  multitude  may 
abrogate  ;  and  they  themselves.,  or  those  who  succeed  in  the  same 
right,  can  only  be  fit  judges  of  the  performance  of  the  ends  of  the 
institution.  Our  author  may  perhaps  say,  the  public  peace  may 
be  hereby  disturbed  ',  but  he  ought  to  know  there  can  be  no  peace 
where  there  is  nD  justice;  nor  any  justice,  if  the  government  in- 
stituted for  the  good  of  a  nation,  be  turned  to  its  ruin.  But  in 
plain  English,  the  inconvenience  with  which  such  as  he  endeavor 
to  affright  us,  is  no  more  than  that  he  or  they,  to  whom  the  power 
is  given,  may  be  restrained  or  chastised  if  they  betray  their  trust." 

Such  as  enter  into  society ^  must,  in  some,  degree,  diminish  their 
liberty. — Chap.  I.,  Sect.  9. 

"  Reason  leads  them  to  this ;  no  one  man  or  family  is  able  to 
*  Cujus  est  instituere,  ejus  est  abrogare. 


CHAPTER  IX.  297 

provide  that  which  is  requisite  for  their  convenience  or  security, 
whilst  every  one  has  an  equal  right  to  everything,  and  none  ac- 
knowledges a  superior  to  determine  the  controversies  that,  upon 
such  occaeions,  must  continually  arise,  and  will,  probably,  be  so 
many  and  cjreat,  that  mankind  cajinot  bear  them.  Therefore, 
though  I  do  not  believe  thatBellarmine  said  a  commonwealth  could 
not  exercise  its  power,  for  he  could  not  be  ignorant  that  Rome 
and  Athens  did  exercise  theirs,  and  that  all  the  regular  kingdoms 
in  the  world  are  commonwealths;  yet  there  is  nothing  of  absurdity 
in  saying,  that  man  cannot  continue  in  the  perpetual  and  entire 
fruition  of  the  liberty  that  God  hath  given  him.  The  liberty  of 
one  is  thwarted  by  that  of  anothe. ;  and  whilst  they  are  all  equal, 
none  will  yield  to  any  otherwise  than  by  a  general  consent.  This  ts 
the  ground  of  all  just  governments ;  for  violence  or  fraud  can 
create  no  right,  and  the  same  consent  gives  the  form  to  them  all, 
how  much  soever  they  differ  from  each  other.  Some  small  num- 
hers  of  men,  living  within  the  precincts  of  one  city  have,  as  it 
were,  cast  into  a  common  slock,  the  right  which  they  had  of  gov- 
erning themselves  and  children,  and  by  common  consent  joining 
in  one  body,  exercised  such  power  over  every  single  person  as 
seemed  beneficial  to  the  whole  ]  and  this  men  call  perfect  '  demo- 
cracy.' Others  chose  rather  to  be  governed  by  a  select  number  of 
Buch  as  excelled  most  in  wisdom  and  virtue;  and  this  according  to 
the  signification  of  the  word  was  called  'aristocracy.'  Or,  when 
one  man  excelled  all  others,  the  government  was  put  into  his  hands 
under  the  name  of  '  monarchy.'  But  the  wisest,  best,  and  far 
the  greatest  part  'of  mankind,  rejecting  these  simple  species,  did 
form  governments  mixed  or  composed  of  the  three,  as  shall  be 
proved  hereafter,  which  commonly  received  their  respective  denomi- 
nation from  the  great  part  that  prevailed,  and  did  deserve  praise  or 
blame  as  they  were  well  or  ill  proportioned." 

"  If  men  are  naturally  free,  such  as  have  wisdom  and  understand- 
ing will  always  frame  good  governments ;  but  if  they  are  born 
under  the  necessity  of  a  perpetual  slavery,  no  wisdom  can  be  of 
13* 


298  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

use  to  them ;  but  all  must  forever  depend  on  the  will  of  their  lords, 
how  cruel,  mad,  proud,  or  wicked  soever  they  be." 

In  the  succeeding  sections  of  this  chapter,  Sidney 
examines  that  portion  of  the  argument  of  Filmer 
wherein  he  attempts  to  base  his  theory  of  the  divine 
institution  of  monarchy  upon  a  pretended  paternal 
right  of  the  monarch,  derived  from  the  same  source, 
and  having  the  same  sanctions,  as  the  necessary  and 
natural  authority  which  a  father  exercises  over  his 
children.  He  thoroughly  exposes  this  fallacy  both  by 
argument  and  by  copious  illustrations  drawn  from 
history.  He  shows  that  there  was  no  shadow  of  such 
paternal  kingdom  among  the  Hebrews,  nor  was  it 
found  among  any  of  the  enlightened  nations  of  an- 
tiquity. The  Greeks  and  Romans  chose  those  to  be 
kings  who  excelled  in  the  virtues  most  beneficial  to 
civil  societies.  The  absurdity  of  the  doctrine  that  a 
right  of  dominion  by  the  law  of  nature  is  hereditary 
is  shown,  and  the  principle  advocated  that  the  people 
is  the  source  of  all  political  authority.  The  following 
passage  occurs  in  the  last  section  of  this  chapter  under 
the  head  "  All  just  magisterial  power  is  from  the 
people.''^ 

"Upon  the  same  grounds  we  may  conclude  that  no  privilege  is 
peculiarly  annexed  to  any  form  of  government;  but  that  all  magis- 
trates are  equally  the  ministers  of  God,  who  perform  the  work  for 
which  they  were  instituted;  and  that  the  "people  which  institutes 
them i  may  proportion^  regulateyand  terminate  their  power  as  to 
timey  measure,  and  number  of  persons,  as  seems  most  convenient  to 
themselves,  which  can  be  no  other  than  their  own  good.  For  it  can- 
not be  imagined  that  a  multitude  of  people  should  send  for  Numa, 


CHAPTEE   IX.  299 

or  any  other  person  to  whom  ihey  owed  nothing,  to  reign  over 
them,  that  he  might  live  in  glory  and  pleasure  ,  or  for  any  other 
reason  than  that  it  might  he  good  for  them  and  their  posterity. 
This  shows  the  work  of  all  magistrates  to  be  always  and  every- 
where the  same,  even  the  doing  of  justice,  and  procuring  the  wel- 
fare of  those  that  create  them." 

The  second  chapter  of  the  Discourses  on  Govern* 
vient  opens  with  some  remarks  on  the  natural  equality 
of  man.  Having  proved  men  by  nature  free,  the 
author  next  undertakes  to  prove  them  equal ;  not 
indeed  equal  in  physical  strength,  or  in  their  mental 
or  moral  faculties,  but  endowed  with  an  equality  of 
rights.  The  distinctions  of  society,  he  contends,  are 
artificial.  Virtue,  not  birth,  should  exalt  one  man 
above  another,  and  an  hereditary  prerogative  of  domi- 
nion, is  at  once  opposed  to  reason,  revelation,  and  com- 
mon sense. 

That  it  is  'natural  for  nations  to  govern,  as  to  choose  governors  ; 
and  that  virtue  only  gives  a  natural  'preference  of  one  man 
above  another,  or  reason  why  one  should  be  chosen  rather 
than  another. — Chap.  II.,  Sec   ]. 

"That  which  I  maintain,"  Sidney  remarks  in  the  opening  of  this 

section,  "is   the  cause  of  mankind j  which   ought  not  to  suffer, 

though  champions  of  corrupt  principles  have  weakly  defended,  or 

maliciously  betrayed  it;  and  therefore,  not  at  all  relying  on  their 

authority,  I  intend  to  reject  whatever  they  say  that  agrees  not  with 

reason,  scripture,  or  the  approved  examples  of  the  best  polished 

nations." 

•  •  •  •         .    •  * 

"  We  have  already  seen  that  the  patriarchal  power  resembles 
not  the  regal  in  principle  or  practice  ;  that  the  beginning  and  con- 


800  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

tJnuancc  of  regal  power  was  contrary  to,  and  inconsistent  with 
the  patriarchal  J  that  the  first  fathers  of  mankind  left  all  their 
children  independent  of  each  other,  and  in  equal  liberty  of  provid 
ing  for  themselves ;  that  every  man  continued  in  this  liberty,  till 
the  number  so  increased  that  they  became  troublesome  and  danger 
ous  to  each  other  ;  and  finding  no  other  remedy  to  the  disorders 
growing  or  like  to  grow  among  them,  joined  many  families  into 
one  civil  body,  that  they  might  the  better  provide  for  the  conve- 
nience, safety,  and  defence  of  themselves  and  their  children. 
This  was  a  collation  of  every  man's  private  right  into  a  public 
stock ;  and  no  one  having  any  other  right  than  what  was  common 
to  all,  except  it  were  that  of  fathers  over  their  children,  they  were 
all  equally  free  when  their  fathers  were  dead;  and  nothing  could 
induce  them  to  join,  and  lessen  that  natural  liberty  by  joining, 
in  societies,  but  the  hopes  of  a  public  advantage.  Such  as  were 
wise  and  valiant,  procured  it  by  setting  up  regular  governments, 
and  placing  the  best  men  in  the  administration;  whilst  the  w^eakest 
and  basest  fell  under  the  power  of  the  most  boisterous  and  violent 
of  their  neighbors.  Those  of  the  first  sort  had  their  root  in  wis- 
dom and  justice,  and  are  called  lawful  kingdoms  or  common- 
wealths, and  the  rules  by  which  they  are  governed  are  known  by 
the  name  of  laws.  These  governments  have  ever  been  the  nurses 
of  virtue;  the  nations  living  under  them  have  flourished  in  peace 
and  happiness,  or  made  wars  with  glory  and  advantage.  Whereas 
the  other  sort,  springing  from  violence  and  wrong,  have  ever  gone 
under  the  odious  title  of  tyrannies,  and  by  fomenting  vices,  like  to 
those  from  which  they  grew,  have  brought  shame  and  misery  upon 
those  who  were  subject  to  them.  This  appears  so  plainly  in  Scrip- 
ture, that  the  assertors  of  liberty  want  no  other  patron  than  God 
himself ;  and  his  word  so  fully  justifies  what  we  contend  for,  that 
it  were  not  necessary  to  make  use  of  human  authority,  if  our  ad- 
versaries did  not  oblige  us  to  examine  such  as  are  cited  by  them '' 

"That  equality  which  is  just  among  equals,  is  just  only  among 
equals.  But  such  as  are  base,  ignorant,  vicious,  slothful,  or 
cowardly,  are  not  equal   in   natural   or  acquired  virtues  to  the 


CHAPTEE  rx.  301 

generous,  wise,  valiant,  and  industrious;  nor  equally  useful  to  the 
societies  in  which  they  live.  They  cannot,  therefore,  have  an 
equal  part  in  the  government  of  them  ;  they  cannot  equally  provide 
for  the  common  good  ;  and  it  is  not  a  personal,  but  a  public 
benefit,  that  is  sought  in  their  constitution  and 'continuance. 
There  may  be  an  hundred  thousand  men  in  any  army  who  are  all 
equally  free ;  but  they  only  are  naturally  most  fit  to  be  commanders 
or  leaders,  who  most  excel  in  the  virtues  required  for  the  right 
performance  of  those  ofiices;  and  that  not  because  it  is  good  for 
them  to  be  raised  above  their  brethren,  but  because  it  is  good  for 
their  brethren  to  be  guided  by  them,  as  it  is  ever  good  to  be  gov- 
erned by  the  wisest  and  the  best.  If  the  nature  of  man  be  reason, 
detur  digniorif  in  matters  of  this  kind  is  the  voice  of  nature  ;  and 
it  were  not  only  a  deviation  from  reason,  but  a  most  desperate  and 
mischievous  madness,  for  a  company  going  to  the  Indies  to  give 
the  guidance  of  their  ship  to  the  son  of  the  best  pilot  in  the  world, 
if  he  want  the  skill  required  in  that  employment,  or  to  one  who 
was  maliciously  set  to  destroy  them ;  and  he  only  can  have  a 
rightj  grounded  upon  the  dictates  of  nature,  to  be  advanced  to  the 
helm,  who  best  knows  how  to  govern  it,  and  has  given  the  best 
testimonies  of  his  integrity  and  intentions  to  employ  his  skill  for 
the  good  of  those  that  are  embarked.  But  as  the  work  of  a 
magistrate,  especiallij  if  he  be  the  supreme^  is  the  highest,  noblest,  and 
most  difficidt  that  can  be  committed  to  the  charge  of  a  man,  a  more 
excellent  virtue  is  required  in  the  person  who  is  to  be  advanced  to  it^ 
than  any  other;  and  he  that  is  most  excellent  in  that  virtue  is 
reasonably  and  naturally  to  be  preferred  before  any  other. 

Aristotle,  having  this  in  view,  seems  to  think  that  those  who 
believed  it  not  to  be  natural  for  one  man  fo  be  lord  of  all  the 
citizens,  since  ti  city  consists  of  equals,  had  not  observed  that 
inequality  of  endowments,  virtues,  and  abilities,  in  men  which 
renders  some  more  fit  than  others  for  the  performance  of  their 
duties,  and  the  work  intended.  But  it  will  not  be  found,  as  I 
suppose,  that  he  did  ever  dream  of  a  natural  superiority  that  any 


802  ALGEEKON   SIDNEY. 

man  could  ever  have  in  a  civil  society,  unless  it  be  such  a  superi- 
ority in  virtue  as  most  conduces  to  the  public  good." 

Sidney  tlien  proceeds  to  examine  the  argument  of 
his  adversary  derived  from  the  writings  of  Plato  and. 
Aristotle,  and  shows  conclusively,  by  quotations  from 
these  writers,  that  their  authority  is  against  tho 
doctrine  which  Filmer  advocates,  of  a  natural  ine- 
quality of  men  by  birth,  and  a  hereditary  right  of 
dominion.  While,  however,  refuting  the*  positions  of 
Filmer  from  the  pages  of  the  very  authors  quoted  by 
him,  Sidney  does  not  undertake  to  defend  all  the 
speculative  political  opinions  of  these  authors.  On 
this  point  he  adds  : — 

"'Tis  not  my  work  to  justify  these  opinions  o"!  Plato,  and  his 
scholar  Aristotle.  They  were  men,  and  though  wise  and  learned, 
subject  to  error.  If  they  erred  in  these  points,  it  hurts  not  me,  nor 
the  cause  I  maintain,  since  I  make  no^other  use  of  their  books 
than  to  show  the  impudence  and  prevarication  of  those  who  gather 
small  scrap?  out  of  good  books  to  justify  their  assertions  concern- 
ing such  kings  as  are  known  amongst  us;  which  being  examined 
are  found  to  be  wholly  against  them,  and  if  they  were  followed 
would  destroy  their  persons  and  power." 

Freemen  join  together^  and  frame  greater  or  lesser  societies^  and 
give  such  forms  to  them  as  lest  please  themselves. — Chap.  II., 
Sec.  5. 

"But  since  he  (Filmer)  raises  a  question,  *  whether  the  supreme 
power  be  so  in  the  people  that  there  is  but  one  and  the  same  power 
in  all  the  people  of  the  world,  so  that  no  power  can  be  granted 
unless  all  men  upon  the  earth  meet  and  agree  to  choose  a  govern- 
or.' I  think  it  deserves  to  be  answered,  and  I  might  do  it  by  propos- 


CHAPTER   IX.  303 

ing  a  question  to  him  :  whether,  in  his  opinion,  the  empire  of  the 

world  doth  by  the  laws  of  God  and  nature  belong  to  one  man,  and 

who  that  man  is  ?     Or  how  it  came  to  be  so  divided,  as  we  have 

ever  known  it  to  have  been,  without  such  an  injury  to  the  universal 

monarch  as  can  never  be  repaired  ?     But  intending  to  proceed  more 

candidly  and  not  to  trouble  myself  with  Bellarmlne  or  Laurez,  I 

say,  that  they  who  place  the  power  in  a  multitude,  understand  a 

multitude  composed  of  freemen,  who  think  it  for  their  convenience 

to  join  together  and  to  establish  such  laws  and  rules  as  they  oblige 

themselves  to  observe:  which  multitude,  whether  it  be  great  or  small, 

has  the  same  right,  because  ten  men  are  as  free  as  ten  millions  of 

men  ;  and  though  it  may  be  more  prudent  in  some  cases  to  join  with 

the  greater  than  the  smaller  number,  because  there  is  more  strength, 

it  18  not  so  always :  but,  however,  every  man  must  therein  be  his  own 

judge,  since,  if  he  mistake,  the  hurt  is  only  to  himself ;  and  the  ten 

may  as  justly  resolve  to  live  together,  frame  a  civil  society,  and  oblige 

themselves  to  laws,  as  the  greatest  number  of  men  that  ever  met 

together  in  the  world." 

#  *  *  *  *  * 

"  By  this  means  every  number  of  men,  agreeing  together,  and 
framing  a  society,  became  a  complete  body,  having  all  power  in 
themselves  over  themselves,  subject  to  no  other  human  law  than 
their  own.  All  those  that  compose  the  society  being  equally  free 
to  enter  into  it  or  not,  no  man  could  have  any  prerogative  above 
others,  unless  it  were  granted  by  the  consent  of  the  whole ;  and 
nothing  obliging  them  to  enter  into  this  society,  but  the  considera- 
tion of  their  own  good,  that  good,  or  the  opinion  of  it,  must  have 
been  the  rule,  motive,  and  end  of  all  that  they  did  ordain.  It  is 
lawful  therefore  for  any  such  bodies  to  set  up  one  or  a  few  men 
to  govern  them,  or  to  retain  the  power  in  themselves;  and  he  or 
they  who  are  set  up,  having  no  other  power  but  what  is  conferred 
upon  them  by  that  multitude,  whether  great  or  small,  are  truly  by 
them  made  what  they  are ;  and  by  the  law  of  their  own  creation, 
are  to  exercise  those  powers  according  to  the  propoition,  and  to 
the  ends  for  which  they  were  given.  These  rights,  in  several 
nations  and  ages,  have  been  variously  executed  in  the  establishment 


304  ALGEKNON  SIDNEY. 

of  monarchies,  aristocracies,  democracies,  or  mixed  governments 
according  to  the  variety  of  circumstances;  and  the  governments 
have  been  good  or  evil  according  to  the  rectitude  or  pravity  of  their 
institutions,  and  the  virtue  and  wisdom,  or  the  folly  and  vices  of 
those  to  whom  the  power  was  committed  ;  but  the  end  which  was 
ever  proposed,  being  the  good  of  the  public,  they  only  performed 
their  duty  who  procured  it  according  to  the  laws  of  the  society 
which  were  equally  valid  as  to  their  own  magistrates,  whether 
they  were  few  or  many." 

They  who  have,  a  right  of  choosing  a  king  have  the  right  of 
making  a  king. — Chap  II.,  Sec.  6. 

"  Though  the  right  of  magistrates  essentially  depends  upon  the 
consent  of  those  they  govern,  it  is  hardly  worth  our  pains  to 
examine,  '  whether  the  silent  acceptation  of  a  governor  by  part  of 
the  people  be  an  argument  of  their  concurring  in  the  election  of 
him ;  or  by  the  same  reason  the  tacit  consent  of  the  whole 
commonwealth  may  be  maintained ;'  for,  when  the  question  is 
concerning  right,  fraudulent  surmises  are  of  no  value;  much  less 
will  it  from  thence  follow,  '  that  a  prince  commanding  by  succes- 
sion, conquest  or  usurpation,  may  be  said  to  be  elected  by  the 
people ;'  for  evident  marks-  of  dissent  are  often  given.  Some 
declare  their  hatred  ;  others  murmur  more  privately;  many  oppose 
the  governor  or  government,  and  succeed  according  to  the  measure 
of  their  strength,  virtue,  or  fortune.  Man  would  resist  but 
cannot;  and  it  were  ridiculous  to  say,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Greece,  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  or  duchy  of  Tuscany,  do  tacitly 
assent  to  the  government  of  the  Great  Turk,  King  of  Spain,  or 
Duke  of  Florence,  when  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  those 
miserable  nations  abhor  the  tyrannies  they  are  under;  and  if  they 
were  not  mastered  by  a  power  that  is  much  too  great  for  them, 
they  would  soon  free  themselves.  And  those  who  are  under  such 
governments  do  no  more  assent  to  them,  though  they  may  be 
silent,  than  a  man  approves  of  being  robbed,  when,  without  saying 
a  word  he  delivers  his  purse  to  a  thief  that  he  knows  to  be  too 
strong  for  him. 


CHAPTER  rx.  805 

*'  It  is  not  therefore  the  bare  sufferance  pf  a  government  when  a 
disgust  is  declared,  nor  a  silent  submission  where  the  power  of 
opposing  is  wanting,  that  can  imply  an  assent  or  election,  and 
create  a  right;  but  an  explicit  act  of  approbation  when  men  have 
ability  and  courage  to  resist  or  deny." 

Having  given  the  foregoing  brief  extracts  to  illus- 
trate Sidney's  views  on  the  origin  of  government  and 
the  source  of  political  power — the  institution  of 
society — the  freedom  of  man  in  a  state  of  nature — the 
concessions  of  personal  liberty  he  makes  when  he 
enters  into  the  social  compact  for  the  mutual  benefit 
and  advantage  of  all — the  natural  equality  of  rights 
as  well  as  freedom  of  men,  including  their  right  to 
choose  their  own  magistrates  from  among  those  whose 
virtues  and  talents  best  qualify  them  to  administer  the 
affairs  of  a  free  state — we  pass  on  to  present  one  or 
two  extracts  illustrative  of  the  author's  opinion  as  to 
what  constitutes  the  best  government — his  partiality 
for  popular  institutions — and  his  views  of  the  necessity 
and  right  of  altering  or  changing  a  frame  of  govern- 
ment to  suit  the  exigencies  of  the  times.  In  the 
following  passage,  it  will  be  seen,  he  takes  a  distinction 
between  a  pure  democracy^  i.  e..,  where  the  people 
collectively  in  popular  assembly  enact  the  laws — and 
a  mixed  popular  or  representative  government. 

The   best  govermnenls  of  the  world  Jiave  been  composed  of 
monarchy^  aristocracy^  and  democracy. — Chap.  II.,  Sec.  16. 

"  Our  author's  cavils  concerning,  I  know  not  what,  vulgar 
opinions,  that  democracies  were  introduced  to  curb  tyranny,  de- 


306  '  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

serve  no  answer;  for  our  question  is,  whether  one  form  of  gov- 
ernment be  prescribed  to  us  by  God  and  nature,  or  we  are  left, 
according  to  our  own  understanding,  to  constitute  such  as  seem 
best  to  ourselves.  As  for  democracy,  he  may  say  what  pleases 
him  of  it;  and  I  believe  it  can  suit  only  with  the  convenience  of 
a  small  town  accompanied  with  such  circumstances  as  are  seldom 
found.  But  this  by  no  way  obliges  men  to  run  into  the  other  ex- 
treme, inasmuch  as  the  variety  of  forms  between  mere  democracy 
and  absolute  monarchy,  is  almost  infinite  ;  and  if  I  should  under- 
take to  say  there  never  was  a  good  government  in  the  world  that 
did  not  consist  of  three  simple  species  of  monarchy,  aristocracy, 
and  democracy,  I  think  I  might  make  it  good." 

Sidney  here  illustrates  his  proposition  by  connparing 
the  government  of  the  Hebrews,  of  Sparta,  Athens, 
Rome,  the  Italian  Republics,  Germany,  Poland,  etc., 
and  adds  : — 

"Some  nations,  not  liking  the  name  of  king,  have  given  such 
a  power  as  kings  enjoyed  in  other  places,  to  one  or  more  magis- 
trates; either  limited  to  a  certain  time,  or  left  to  be  perpetual,  as 
best  pleased  themselves.  Others,  approving  the  name,  made  the 
dignity  purely  elective.  Some  have,  in  their  elections,  principally 
regarded  one  family  as  long  as  it  lasted  ;  others  considered  nothing 
but  the  fitness  of  the  person,  and  reserved  to  themselves  a  liberty 
of  taking  where  they  pleased.  Some  have  permitted  the  crown 
to  be  hereditary  as  to  its  ordinary  course,  but  restrained  the 
power,  and  instituted  officers  to  inspect  the  proceedings  of  kings, 
and  to  take  care  that  the  laws  were  not  violated.  Some  have  con- 
tinued long,  and  it  may  be  always,  in  the  same  form  ;  others  have 
changed  it.  Some  being  incensed  against  their  kings,-  as  the  Ro- 
mans, exasperated  by  the  villanies  of  Tarquin,  and  the  Tuscans 
by  \he  cruelties  of  Mezentius,  abolished  the  name  of  king; 
others,  as  at  Athens,  Sicyon,  Argos,  Corinth,  Thebes,  and  the 
Latins,  did  not  stay  for  such  extremities,  but  set  up  other  govern* 
ments  when  they  thought  it  best  for  themselves,  and  by  this  con- 


CHAPTER  IX.'  307 

duct  prevented  the  evils  that  usually  fall  upon  other  nations  when 
their  kings  degenerate  into  tyrants,  and  a  nation,  is  brought  to 
enter  into  a  war  by  which  all  may  be  lost  and  nothing  can  be 
gained  which  was  not  their  own  before. 

"Our  author,  in  pursuance  of  his  aversion  of  all  that  is  good, 
disapproves  this,  as  if  it  were  not  as  just  for  a  people  to  lay  aside 
their  kings  when  they  receive  nothing  but  evil,  and  can  rationally 
hope  for  no  benefit  by  them,  as  for  others  to  set  them  up  in  ex- 
pectation of  good  from  them." 

Sidney's  preference  for  a  mixed  government,  com- 
prising the  three  simple  elementary  forms,  but  with  a 
popular  executive,  chosen  by  the  nation,  is  clearly  ex- 
pressed. These  views,  however,  do  not  in  the  least 
conflict  with  the  consistency  of  his  prior  course  in 
support  of  the  Commonwealth,  or  his  stern  republican 
principles.  The  best  forms  of  republican  government, 
our  own  included,  are  thus  constituted.  In  our  own 
institutions,  for  example,  though  the  democratic  ele- 
ment largely  preponderates,  yet  it  is  found  united 
with  the  other  two — the  monarchic  in  the  person  of 
the  executive,  and  the  conservative  or  aristocratic*  in 
the  senate.  Sidney's  views  upon  the  impracticability 
of  a  pure  democracy  as  the  government  of  a  large 
nation,  are  strictly  philosophical.  It  would  do  for  the 
cabin  ofthe  Mayflower,  but  was  not  found  to  answer, 
after  a  few  years^  for  the  little  colony  of  Massachu- 
setts.    Elsewhere  the  author  says: — 

"  As  to  popular  government  in  the  strictest  sense  (that  is  pure 
democracy  where  the  people  in  themselves,  and  by  themselves, 
perform  all  that  belongs  to   government),   I  know  of  no   such 

*  Sidney  uses  this  word  also  in  its  pure  sense — aristos^  the  best. 


308  ALGERNON  SIDNEY 

thing,  and  if  it  be  in  the  world  have  nothing  to  say  for  it.  In 
asserting  the  liberty  generally,  as  I  suppose  granted  by  God  to  all 
mankind,  I  neither  deny  that  so  many  as  think  fit  to  enter  into  a 
society,  may  give  so  much  of  their  power  as  they  please  to  one  or 
more  men  for  a  time,  or  perpetually  to  them  and  their  heirs,  ac- 
cording to  such  rnles  as  they  prescribe  ;  nor  approve  the  disorders 
that  must  arise  if  they  keep  it  entirely  in  their  own  hands.  And 
looking  upon  the  several  governments  which,  under  different  forms 
and  names  have  been  regularly  constituted  by  nations,  as  so  many 
undeniable  testimonies  that  they  thought  it  good  for  themselves 
and  their  posterity  so  to  do,  I  infer  that  as  there  is  no  man  who 
would  not  rather  choose  to  be  governed  by  such  as  are  just,  indus- 
trious, valiant,  and  wise,  than  by  those  that  are  wicked,  slothful, 
cowardly,  and  foolish  ;  and  to  live  in  society  with  such  as  are 
qualified  like  those  of  the  first  sort,  rather  than  with  those  who 
will  always  be  ready  to  commit  all  manner  of  viljanies,  or  want 
experience,  strength,  or  courage  to  join  in  repelling  the  injuries 
that  are  offered  by  others;  so  there  are  none  who  do  not  accord- 
ing to  the  measure  of  understanding  they  have,  endeavor  to  set  up 
those  who  seem  to  be  best  qualified,  and  to  prevent  the  introduc- 
tion of  those  vices  which  render  the  faith  of  the  magistrate  sus- 
pected, or  make  him  unable  to  perform  his  duty  in  providing  for 
the  execution  of  justice  and  the  public  defence  of  the  state  against 
foreign  and  domestic  enemies.  For  as  no  man  who  is  not  abso- 
lutely mad  will  commit  the  care  of  a  flock  to  a  villain  that  has 
neither  skill,  diligence,  nor  courage  to  defend  them,  or,  perhaps,  is 
maliciously  set  to  destroy  them,  rather  than  to  a  stout,  faithful, 
and  wise  shepherd,  it  is  less  to  be  imagined  that  any  would  com- 
mit the  same  error  in  relation  to  that  society  which  comprehends 
himself,  with  his  children,  friends,  and  all  that  is  dear  to  him." — 
From  Chap.  11.,  Sec.  19. 

Alluding  again  to  this  same  branch  of  his  subject 
in  another  part  of  the  work,  he  says  : — 

*'  However,  more  ignorance  cannot  be  expressed  than  by  giving 


CHAPTER  rX. 


309 


the  name  of  democracy  to  those  governments  that  are  composed 
of  the  three  simple  species,  as  we  have  proved  that  ail  the  good 
ones  have  ever  been  ;  for  in  a  strict  sense  it  can  only  suit  with 
those  where  the  people  retain  to  themselves  the  administration  of 
the  supreme  power;  and  more  largely,  when  the  popular  part,  as 
in  Athens,  greatly  overbalances  the  other  two,  and  that  the  deno- 
mination is  taken  from  the  prevailing  part.  But  our  author,  if  I 
mistake  not,  is  the  first  that  ever  took  the  ancient  governments  of 
Israel,  Sj)arta,  and  Rome,  or  those  of  England,  France,  Germany, 
and  Spain  to  be  democracies,  only  because  every  one  of  them  had 
senates  and  assemblies  of  the  people,  who,  in  their  persons,  or  by 
their  deputies,  did  join  with  their  chief  magistrates  in  the  exercise 
of  the  supreme  power.  That  of  Israel  to  the  time  of  Saul  is 
called  by  Josephiis  an  aristocracy.  The  same  name  is  given  to 
that  of  Sparta,  by  all  the  Greek  authors,  and  the  great  contest  in 
the  Peloponesian  war  was  between  the  two  kinds  of  government. 
The  cities  that  were  governed  aristocratically,  or  desired  to  be  so, 
followed  the  Lacedemonians;  and  such  as  delighted  in  democracy, 
taking  part  with  the  Athenians.  In  like  manner,  Rome,  England, 
and  France  were  said  to  be  under  monarchies;  not  that  their 
kings  might  do  what  they  pleased,  but  because  one  man  had  a  "pre- 
eminence above  any  other." — From  Chap.  11.^  Sec.  30. 

Mixed  and  popular  governmenls  preserve  peace,  and  manage 
wars,  letter  than  absolute  monarchies. — Chap.  II.,  Sec.  21. 

"  Being  no  way  concerned  in  the  defence  of  democracy,  and 
having  proved  that  Xenophon,  Thucydides,  and  others  of  the 
ancients,  in  speaking  against  the  over  great  power  of  the  common 
people,  intended  to  add  reputation  to  the  aristocratical  party  to 
which  they  were  addicted,  and  not  to  set  up  absolute  monarchy, 
■which  never  fell  under  discourse  among  them,  but  as  an  object  of 
scorn  and  hatred  even  in  itself,  and  only  to  be  endured  by  base 
and  barbarous  people,  I  may  leave  our  knight,  like  Don  Quixote, 
fighting  against  the  phantasms  of  his  own  brain,  and  saying  what 
he  pleases  against  such  governments  as  never  were,  unless  in  such 


310  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

a  place  as  San  Marino,  near  Sini2;ag1ia,  in  Italy,  where  a  hundred 
clowns  govern  a  harharous  rock  that  no  man  invades,  and  relates 
nothing  to  onr  question.  If  his  doctrine  be  true,  the  monarchy- 
he  extols  is  not  only  to  be  preferred  before  unruly  democracy  and 
mixed  governments,  but  is  the  only  one  that  without  a  gross  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  God  and  nature,  can  be  established  over  any 
nation.  But  having,  as  I  hope,  sufficiently  proved  that  God  did 
neither  institute  nor  appoint  any  such  to  be  instituted,  norapprove 
those  that  were;  that  nature  does  not  incline  us  to  it,  and  that  the 
best  as  well  as  the  wisest  men  have  always  abhorred  it;  that  it 
has  been  tigreeable  only  to  the  most  stupid  and  base  nations  j  and 
if  others  have  submitted  to  it,  they  have  done  so  only  as  to  the 
greatest  evils  brought  upon  them  by  violence,  corruption,  or 
fraud — I  may  now  proceed  to  show  that  the  progress  of  it  has 
been  in  all  respects  suitable  to  its  beginning 

"To  this  end  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  examine  our  author's 
words  :  '  Thus,'  says  he,  '  do  they  paint  to  the  life  this  beast  with 
many  heads.  Let  me  give  the  cypher  of  their  form  of  government. 
As  it  is  begot  by  sedition,  so  it  is  nourished  by  crimes  :  it  can 
never  stand  without  wars,  either  wiih  an  enemy  abroad,  or  w'ith 
friends  at  home.'  And  in  order  to  this  I  will  not  criticise  upon  the 
terms,  though  '  cyjiher  of  a  form,  and  '  war  with  friends'  may 
justly  be  called  nonsense.  But  coming  to  his  assertion  that  popu- 
lar or  mixed  governments  have  their  birth  in  sedition,  and  are  after- 
wards vexed  with  civil  or  foreign  wars,  I  take  liberty  to  say,  that 
whereas  there  is  no  form  appointed  by  God  or  nature,  those  govern- 
ments only  can  be  called  just,  which  are  established  by  the  con- 
sent of  nations.  These  nations  may  at  the  first  set  up  popular  or. 
mixed  governments,  and  without  the  guilt  of  sedition^  introduce 
them  afterwards^  if  that  which  was  first  established  prove  unprofita- 
ble or  hurtful  to  them  ;  and  those  that  have  done  so,  have  enjoyed 
more  justice  in  times  of  peace,  and  managed  wars,  when  occasion  re- 
quired,  with  more  virtue  and  better  success  than  any  absolute  monar- 
chies have  done. ''^ 

After  laying  down  the  above  general  proposition, 


CHAPTER  IX.  311 

Sidney  proceeds  to  prove  its  truth,  by  a  copious  and 
accurate  reference  to  the  history  of  nations,  ancient  and 
modern,  showing  by  contrast  the  advantage  constantly 
on  the  side  of  popular  governments.  In  the  foregoing 
passage,  it  will  be  observed,  that  Sidney  asserts  the 
right  of  popular  insurrection,  or,  in  his  own  words, 
the  right  of  a  people  '*  without  the  guilt  of  sedition, 
to  introduce  popular  or  mixed  governments."^  This 
doctrine  is  constantly  recognised  throughout  the  work, 
and  we  shall  hereafter  cite  some  passages  in  which  it 
is  more  forcibly  and  directly  asserted.  "We  now  quote 
from  another  section,  wherein,  from  the  same  general 
^principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  he  adduces  the  abso- 
lute and  uncontrollable  right  of  a  nation  to  reviso  or 
alter  its  constitution  and  fundamental  laws. 

Gcod  governments  adviil  of  changes  in  the  sifperstructureSy 
whilst  the  foundations  remain  unchangeable. — Chap.  II., 
Sec.  17. 

"Though  I  mention  these  things,*  it  is  not  with  a  deslgo  of 
blaming  them,  for  some  of  them  deserve  it  not.  And  it  ought  to  be 
considered  that  the  wisdom  of  man  is  imperfect,  and  unable  to 
foresee  the  effects  that  may  proceed  from  an  infinite  variety  of  acci- 
dents, which,  according  to  emergencies,  necessarily  require  new 
constitutions  to  prevent  or  cure  the  mischiefs  arising  from  them,  or 
to  advance  a  good  that  at  the  first  was  not  thought  on.  And  as  the 
noblest  work  on  which  the  wit  of  man  can  be  exercised,  were, 
(if  it  could  be  done,)  to  constitute  a  govcrntnent  that  should  last 
forever,  the  next  to  that  is  to  suit  laws  to  present  exigencies,  and  so 
much  as  in  the  power  of  man  to  foresee.    He  that  should  resolve  to 

*  He  refers  to  a  number  of  historical  examples  of  changes  in  govern- 
ment commented  on  in  a  previous  part  of  the  section. 


812  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

persist  obstinately  in  the  way  he  first  entered  upon,  or  to  blame 
ihose  who  go  out  of  that  in  which  their  fathers  had  walked,  when 
they  find  it  necessary,  doe?,  as  far  as  in  him  lies,  render  the  worst 
of  errors  perpetual.  Changes,  therefore,  are  unavoidable,  and  the 
wit  of  man  can  go  no  farther  than  to  institute  such,  as  in  relation 
to  the  forces,  manners,  nature,  religion,  or  interests  of  a  people, 
and  their  neighbors,  are  suitable  and  adequate  to  what  is  seen,  or 
apprehended  to  be  seen.  He  who  would  oblige  all  nations,  at  all 
times,  to  take  the  same  course,  would  prove  as  foolish  aa  a  physi- 
cian wlio  should  apply  the  same  medicine  to  all  distempers,  or  an 
architect  that  would  build  the  same  kind  of  house  for  all  persons, 
without  considering  their  estates,  dignities,  the  number  of  their 
children,  or  servants,  the  time  or  climate  in  which  they  live  and 
many  other  circumstances;  or,  which  is,  if  possible  more  sottish, 
a  general  who  should  obstinately  resolve  always  to  make  war 
ill  the  same  way,  and  to  draw  up  his  army  in  the  same  form 
without  examining  the  nature,  number,  and  strength  of  his  own 
and  his  enemies  forces,  or  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the 
ground.  But  as  there  may  be  some  universal  rules  in  physic,  archi- 
tecture, and  military  discipline,  from  which  men  ought  never  to 
depart,  so  there  are  some  in  politics  also  which  ought  always  to  be 
observed ;  and  wise  legislatures  adhering  to  them  only,  will  be 
teady  to  change  all  others  as  occasion  may  require  to  the  public 
good." 

#  #  #  ^  ^  ^ 

*'  That  no  change  of  magistracy  as  to  the  name,  number,  or 
form,  doth  testify  irregularity,  or  bring  any  manner  of  prejudice, 
as  long  as  it  is  do7ie  by  those  who  have  a  right  of  doing  it  ;  and  he 
or  they  who  are  created  continue  within  the  power  of  the  law  to 
accomplish  the  end  of  their  institution,  many  forms  being  in  them- 
selves equally  good,  and  may  be  used,  as  well  one  as  another, 
according  to  times  and  other  circumstances." — From  Chap.  //., 
Sec.  13 

M.  M,  M.  M.  .it-  -V- 

rIF  t5-  "re"  w  ^  ^ 

*'  It  is  a  rare  thing  for  a,  city  at  first  to  be  rightly  constituted. 
Men  can  hardly  at  once  foresee  all  that  may  happen  in  many  ages, 


CHAPTER  IX.  313 

and  the  changes  that  accompany  them  ought  to  be  provided  for." — 
Ibid. 

^P  tP  "W*  ^*  ^P  ^n* 

"All  human  constitutions  are  subject  to  corruption,  and  must 
perish  unless  they  are  timely  renewed  and  reduced  to  their  first 
principles." — Ibid. 

"  This  being  the  state  of  the  matter  on  both  sides,  we  may 
easily  collect,  that  all  governments  are  subject  to  corruption  and 
decay  ;  but  with  this  difference,  that  absolute  monarchy  is  by  prin- 
ciple led  unto,  or  rooted  in  it ;  whereas  mixed  or  popular  govern- 
ments are  only  in  a  possibility  of  falling  into  it.  As  the  first  can- 
not subsist  unless  the  prevailing  part  of  the  people  be  corrupted, 
the  other  must  certainly  perish  unless  they  be  preserved  in  a  great 
measure  free  from  vices.  I  doubt  whether  any  better  reason  can 
be  given  why  there  have  been,  and  are,  more  monarchies  than 
popular  governments  in  the  world,  than  that  nations  are  more 
easily  drawn  into  corruption  than  defended  from  it;  and  I  think 
that  monarchy  can  be  said  to  be  natural  in  no  other  sense  than  that 
our  depraved  nature  is  most  inclined  to  that  which  is  worst." — 
From  Chap.  II.,  Sec.  19. 

In  the  next  section  Sidney  endeavors  to  prove  that 
"  man's  natural  love  of  liberty  is  tempered  by  reason^ 
which  originally  is  his  nature.''^  The  virtuous,  he 
«ays,  are  willing  to  be  restrained  by  the  law^  and  th» 
vicious  to  submit  to  the  loill  of  a  man,  in  order  to 
gain  impunity  in  offending.  "Wretches  have,  in  all 
times,  endeavored  to  put  the  power  into  the  hands  of 
a  king  who  might  protect  them  in  their  villainies,  and 
advance  them  to  exorbitant  riches  or  undeserved 
honors  ;  while  the  best  men,  desiring  no  other  riches 
or  preferments  than  what  their  merits  might  deserve, 
were  content  with  a  due  liberty  under  the  protection 
14 


314  ALGEEiq-ON  SIDNEY. 

of  a  just  law.  In  illustration  of  this  truth,  he  pointed 
with  a  finger  of  scorn  to  the  worthless  favorites,  the 
corrupt  courtiers,  and  sycophant  statesmen  who  sur- 
rounded the  reigning  monarch. 

"  If  this  be  not  sufficient,  they  may  be  pleased  a  little  to  reflect 
upon  the  affairs  of  our  own  country,  and  seriously  consider 
whether  Hyde,  ClifTord,  Falmouth,  Arlington,  and  Danby,  could 
have  pretended  to  the  chief  places,  if  the  disposal  of  them  had  been 
in  a  well-regulated  Parliament  ?  Whether  they  did  most  resemble 
Brutus,  Publicola,  and  the  rest  of  the  Valerii,  the  Fabii,  Quintii, 
Cornelii,  &c.,  or  Narcissus,  Pullas,  Icetus,  Laco,  Brunius,  and  the 
like  ?  Whether  all  men,  good  or  bad,  do  not  favor  that  state  of 
things  which  favors  them  -,  and  such  as  they  are  ?  whether  Cleave- 
land,  Portsmouth,  and  others  of  the  same  trade,  have  attained  to 
the  riches  and  honors  they  enjoy  by  services  to  the  Common- 
wealth 1  And  what  places  Chiffinch,  Fox,  and  Jenkins  could  pro- 
bably have  attained,  if  our  affairs  had  been  regulated  as  good  men 
desire  ?  Whether  the  old  arts  of  begging,  stealing,  or  bawding, 
or  the  new  ones  of  informing  and  trepa"nning,  thrive  best  under 
one  man  who  may  be  weak  or  vicious,  and  is  always  subject  to 
be  circumvented  by  flatterers,  or  under  the  severe  scrutiny  of  a 
senate  or  people  1  In  a  word,  whether  they  who  live  by  such 
arts,  and  know  no  other,  do  not  always  endeavor  to  advance  the 
government  under  which  they  enjoy,  or  may  hope  to  attain  the 
Ifighest  honors,  and  abhor  that  in  which  they  are  exposed  1o  all 
manner  of  scorn  and  punishment  ?  Which  being  determined,  it 
will  easily  appear  why  the  worst  men  have  ever  been  for  absolute 
monarchy  and  the  best  against  itf  and  which  of  the  two  in  so 
doing,  can  be  said  to  desire  an  unrestrained  liberty  of  doing  that 
which  is  evil." 

Having  thus  presented,  in  his  own  language,  some 
oi  the  views  of  Sidney  as  to  the  absolute  right  of  a 
people  originally  to  institute  any  system  of  govern- 


CHATTER  rX.  315 

ment  which  4hey  chose,  and  subsequently  to  reform 
and  alter  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  state 
through  the  customary  forms  of  legislation,  we  shall 
conclude  our  extracts  from  this  chapter  by  selecting 
some  passages  wherein  he  discusses  the  doctrine  of 
sedition  and  rebellion,  and  justifies  a  general  insurrec- 
tion, as*  a  last  resort, 'to  overthrow  a  tyranny,  or 
depose  a  magistrate  who  usurped  the  public  liberties 
and  defies  the  laws. 

"  It  may  seem  strange,"  he  says,  "to  some  that  I  mention  sedi- 
tions, tumults,  or  wars,  but  I  can  find  no  reason  to  retract  the 
term.  God  intending  that  men  should  Jive  justly  with  one  another 
does  certaiTiIy  intend  that  he  or  they  who  do  no  wrong,  should 
suffer  none ;  and  the  law  which  forbids  injuries  were  of  no  use 
if  no  penalties  might  be  inflicted  on  those  who  will  not  obey  it. 

"  The  ways  of  preventing  or  punishing  injuries  are  judicial  or 
extrajudicial.  Judicial  proceedings  are  of  force  against  those 
^yho  submit  or  may  be  brought  to  trial,  but  are  of  no  effect  against 
those  who  resist,  and  are  of  such  power  that  they  cannot  be  con- 
strained. It  were  absurd  to  cite  a  man  to  appear  before  a  tribunal 
who  can  awe  the  judges,  or  has  armies  to  defend  him ;  and  im- 
pious to  think  that  he  who  has  added  treachery  to  his  other  crimes, 
and  usurped  a  power  above  the  law,  should  be  protected  by  the 
enormity  of  his  wickedness.  Legal  proceedings,  therefore,  are  to 
be  used  when  the  delinquent  submits  to  the  law,  and  all  are  jqst 
when  he  will  not  be  kept  in  order  by  the  legal. 

*'  If  the  laws  of  God  and  man  are  therefore  of  no  effect,  when  the 
magistracy  is  left  at  liberty  to  break  them ;  and  if  the  lusts  of 
those  who  are  too  strong  for  the  tribunals  of  justice  cannot  be 
otherwise  restrained  than  by  sedition,  tumults,  and  war,  these 

SEDITIONS,  TUMULTS,  AND  WARS,  ARE  JUSTIFIED  BY  THE  LAWS  OF 
GOD  AND   MAN. 

"I  will  not  take  upon  me  to  enumerate  all  the  cases  in  which  this 


316  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

may  be  done,  hut  content  myself  with  three  which  have  most  fre- 
quently given  occasion  for  proceedings  of  this  kind. 

"  The  first  is,  when  one  or  more  men  take  upon  them  the  power 
and  name  of  a  magistracy  to  which  they  are  not  justly  called. 

"The  second,  when  one  or  more  being  justly  called,  continue 
in  their  magistracy  longer  than  the  laws  by  which  they  are  called 
do  prescribe. 

"  And  the  third,  when  he  or  they,  who  are  rightly  called,  do 
assume  a  power,  though  within  the  time  prescribed,  that  the  law 
does  not  give ;  or  turn  that  which  the  law  does  give  to  an  end 
different  and  contrary  to  that  which  is  intended  by  it." 

The  author  then  proceeds  to  consider  each  one  of 
these  cases  separately,  and  at  some  length.     "We  give 
the  following  passages  from  that  part  of  the  argument 
applicable  to  the  third  head. 

"If  I  mention  some  of  these  cases,  every  man's  experience  will 
suggest  others  of  the  like  nature ;  and  whoever  condemns  all 
seditions,  tumults,  and  wars,  raised  against  such  princes,  must  say 
that  none  are  wicked  or  seek  the  ruin  of  their  people  :  which  is 
absurd.  Caligula  wished  the  pecple  had  but  one  neck,  that  he 
might  cut  it  off  at  a  blow.  Nero  set  the  city  on  fire  :  and  we 
have  known  such  as  have  been  worse  than  either  of  them.  They 
must  either  be  suffered  to  continue  in  the  free  exercise  of  their 
rage,  that  is,  to  do  all  the  mischief  they  design,  or  must  be  re- 
strained by  a  legal,  judicial,  or  extrajudicial  way ;  and  they  who 
disallow  the  extrajudicial  do  as  little  like  the  judicial.  They  will 
not  hear  of  bringing  a  supreme  magistrate  before  a  tribunal  when 
it  may  be  done.  '  They  will,'  says  our  author,  'depose  their 
kings.'  Why  should  they  not  be  deposed  if  they  become  enemies 
of  their  people,  and  set  up  an  interest  in  their  own  persons  incon- 
sistent with  the  public  good  for  the  promoting  of  which  they  were 
erected  ?  If  they  were  created  by  the  public  consent  for  the  public 
good,  shall  they  not  be  removed  when  they  prove  to  be  of  public 
damage?     If  they  set  up  themselves  may  they  not  be  thrown 


CHAPTER  IX.  .  817 

down  ?  Shall  it  be  lawful  for  them  to  usurp  a  power  over  the 
liberty  of  others,  and  shall  it  not  be  lawful  for  an  injured  people 
to  resume  their  own  1  If  injustice  exalt  itself,  must  it  be  forever 
established  ?" 

#         ^    *  *  •  *  * 

"  There  murt  therefore  be  a  right  of  proceeding  judicially  or  ex- 
trajudicially against  all  persons  who  transgress  the  laws,  or  else  those 
laws  and  the  societies  that  should  subsist  by  them  cannot  siand  j 
and  the  ends  for  which  govetnments  are  constituted,  together  with 
the  governments  themselves,  must  be  overthrown.  Extrajudicial 
proceedings  by  sedition,  tumult,  or  war,  must  take  place  when  the 
persons  concerned  are  of  such  a  power  that  they  cannot  be  brought 
under  the  judicial.  They  who  deny  this,  deny  all  help  against  an 
usurping  tyrant,  or  the  perfidiousness  of  a  lawfully  created  magis- 
trate who  adds  the  crimes  of  ingratitude  and  treachery  to  usurpa- 
tion. These,  of  all  men,  are  the  most  dangerous  enemies  to 
supreme  magistrates;  for  as  no  man  desires  indemnity  for  such 
crimes  as  are  never  committed,  he  that  would  exempt  all  from 
punishment,  supposes  they  will  be  guilty  of  the  worst  j  and  by 
concluding  that  the  people  will  depose  them  if  they  have  the 
power,  acknowledge  that  they  pursue  an  interest  annexed  to  their 
persons,  contrary  to  that  of  their  people,  which  they  would  not 
bear  if  they  could  dt liver  themselves  from  it.  Thus  showing  all 
those  governments  to  be  tyrannical,  lays  such  a  burden  upon  those 
who  administer  them  as  must  necessarily  weigh  them  down  io 
destruction. 

"  If  it  be  said  that  the  word  sedition  implies  that  which  is  evil 
I  answer  that  it  ought  not  then  to  be  applied  to  those  who  seek 
nothing  but  that  which  is  just ;  and  though  the  ways  of  deliver- 
ing an  oppressed  people  from  the  violence  of  a  wicked  magistrate, 
who  has  armed  a  crew  of  lewd  villains,  and  fatted  them  with  the 
blood  and  confiscations  of*  such  as  were  most  ready  to  oppose 
him,  be  extraordinary,  the  inward  righteousness  of  the  act  doth 
fully  justify  the  authors:  'He  that  has  virtue  and  power  to  save 
a  people,  can  never  want  a  right  of  doing  it.' " 


818  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

In  the  last  section  of  this  chapter  Sidney  continues 
the  argument  on  this  branch  of  the  subject,  and  traces 
the  right  of  insurrection  to  the  original  compact  be- 
tween king  and  people. 

• 

Tht  contracts  made  between  magistrates  and  the  nations  which 
created  them  were  real,  solemn,  and  ohligatory. — Chap.  II., 
Sec.  32. 

*' Our  author  having  with  big  words  and  little  sense  inveighed 
against  popular  and  mixed  governments,  proceeds  as  if  he  had 
proved  they  could  not,  or  ought  not,  to  be.  '  If  it  be,'  says  he, 
*  unnatural  for  the  multitude  to  choose  their  governors,  or  to 
govern,  or  to  partake  in  the  government,  what  can  be  thought  of 
that  damnable  conclusion  which  is  made  by  too  many,  that  the 
multitude  may  correct  or  depose  their  princes  if  need  be  ?  Surely 
the  unnaturalness  and  injustice  of  this  position  cannot  sufficiently 
be  expressed.  For,  admit  that  a  king  makes  a  contract  or  paction 
with  his  people  originally  in  his  ancestors,  or  personally  at  his 
coronation  (for  both  these  pactions  some  dream  of,  but  cannot 
offer  any  proof  of  either),  yet  by  no  law  of  any  nature  can  a  con- 
tract be  thought  broken,  except,  first,  a  lawful  trial  be  had  by  the 
ordinary  judge  of  the  breakers  thereof,  or  else  every  man  may  be 
both  party  and  judge  in  his  own  case,  which  is  absurd  once  to  be 
thought :  for  then  it  will  lie  in  the  hands  of  the  headless  multi- 
tude, when  they  please  to  cast  off  the  yoke  of  government  that 
God  hath  laid  upon  them,  and  to  julge  and  punish  them  by  whom 
they  should  be  judged  and  punished  themselves, 

*'  To  this  I  first  answer  briefly,  that  if  it  be  natural  for  the  mul- 
titude to  choose  their  governors,  or  to  govern,  or  tD  participate  in 
the  government  as  best  pleases  themselves,  or  that  there  never  was 
a  government  in  the  world  that  was  tfbt  so  set  up  by  them  in 
pursuance  of  the  power  naturally  inherent  in  themselves,  what 
can  be  thought  of  that  damnable  conclusion  which  has  been  made 
by  fools  or  knaves,  that  the  multitude  may  not,  if  need  be,  correct 
or  depose  their  own  magistrates'?    Surely  the  unnaturalness  or  in- 


CHAPTER  IX.  819 

justice  of  such  a  position  cannot  be  sufficiently  expressed.  If 
that  were  admitted,  all  the  most  solemn  pacts  and  contracts  made 
between  nations  and  their  magistrates,  originally  or  personally, 
and  confirmed  by  laws  or  oaths,  would  be  of  no  value.  He  that 
would  break  the  most  sacred  bonds  that  can  be  amongst  men, 
thould,  hf  perjury  and  wickedness  become  judge  of  his  own  case, 
and  by  the  worst  of  crimes  procure  impunity  for  all.  It  would  be 
in  ^is  power  by  folly,  wickedness,  and  madness,  to  destroy  the 
multitude  which  he  was  created  and  sworn  to  preserve,  though 
wise,  virtuous,  and  just,  and  headed  by  the  wisest  and  justesl  of 
men,  or  to  lay  a  yoke  on  those  who,  by  the  laws  of  God  and 
nature,  ought  to  be  free." 

''Besides,  if  every  people  may  govern,  or  constitute  and  choose 
one  or  more  governors,  tney  may  divide  the  power  between  sev- 
eral men,  or  ranks  of  men,  allotting  to  every  one  so  much  as  they 
please,  or  retaining  so  much  as  they  think  fit.  This  has  been 
practised  in  all  the  governments  which,  under  several  forms,  have 
flourished  in  Palestine,  Greece,  Italy,  Germany,  France,  and  Eng- 
land, and  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  laws  of  every  place  show 
what  the  power  of  the  respective  magistrate  is,  and  by  declaring 
how  much  is  allowed  to  bim,  declare  what  is  denied  ;  for  he  has 
not  that  which  he  has  not,  and  is  to  be  accounted  a  magistrate 
while  he  exercises  that  which  he  has." 

In  the  third  and  last  chapter  of  the  "  Discourses," 
Sidney  continues  the  argument  respecting  the  origin 
and  ground  of  government — examines  the  reciprocal 
duties  and  obligations  of  magistrates  and  people — 
insists  that  the  law  makers  are  themselves  amenable 
to  the  laws,  and  traces  the  legislative  authority  and 
all  political  power  originally  to  the  social  compact. 
The  following  extract  is  from  the  first  section  of  this 
chapter,  the  object  of  which  is  to  show  that  magis- 


320  ALGlSKNOl^  SIDNEY. 

trates  can  have  no  just  power  other  than  what  is  given 
by  the  constitution  and  laws  : — 

"  He  that  neither  is,  nor  has  any  title  to  be  a  king,  can  come  to 
be  so  only  by  force  or  by  consent.  If  by  force,  he  does  not  confer 
a  benefit  upon  the  people,  but  injures  them  in  the  most  outrageous 
manner.  If  it  be  possible,  therefore,  or  reasonable  to  imagine, 
that  one  man  did  ever  subdue  a  multitude,  he  can  no  otherwise  re- 
se.Tible  a  father  than  the  worst  of  all  enemies,  who  does  the  great- 
est mischiefs,  resembles  the  best  of  all  friends  who  confers  the 
most  inestimable  benefits,  and  consequently  does  as  justly  deserve 
the  utmost  effects  of  hatred  as  the  other  does  of  love,  respect,  and 
service.  If  by  consent,  he  w^ho  is  raised  from  amongst  the  people, 
and  placed  above  his  brethren,  receives  great  honors  and  advan- 
tages, but  confers  none.  The  obligations  of  gratitude  are  on  his 
side,  and  whatsoever  he  does  in  acknowledgment  to  his  benefac- 
tors for  their  love  to  him,  is  no  more  than  his  duty,  and  he  can 
demand  no  more  from  them  than  what  they  think  fit  to  add  to  the 
favors  already  received.  If  more  be  pretended,  it  must  be  by  vir- 
tue of  that  contract,  and  can  no  otherwise  be  proved  than  by  pro- 
ducing it  to  be  examined  that  the  true  sense,  meaning,  and  intea- 
tion  of  it  may  be  known. 

"  This  contract  must  be  in  form  and  substance  according  to  a 
general  rule  given  to  all  mankind,  or  such  as  is  left  to  the  will  of 
every  nation.  If  a  general  one  be  pretended,  it  ought  to  be 
shown  that  by  inquiring  into  the  contents,  we  may  understand  the 
the  force  and  extent  of  it.  If  this  cannot  be  done,  it  may  justly 
pass  for  a  fiction  ;  no  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  it,  and  we 
may  be  sure  that  what  contracts  never  have  been  made  between 
nations  and  their  kings,  have  been  framed  according  to  the  will 
of  those  nations,  and,  consequently,  how  many  soever  they  are, 
and  whatsoever  the  sense  of  any  or  all  of  them  may  be,  they  can 
oblige  no  man  exciept  those,  or,  at  the  most,  the  descendants  of 
those  who  made  them.  Whoever,  therefore,  would  persuade  us 
that  one  or  more  nations  are,  by  virtue  of  those  contracts,  bound 
to  bear  all  the  insolences  of  tyrants,  is  obliged  to  show  that  by 


CHAPTER  IX.  321 

those  contracts  they  did  for  ever  indefinitely  hind   themselves  so 
to  do,  how  great  soever  ihey  might  be. 

"  I  may  justly  go  a  step  farther  and  affirm  that  if  any  such 
thing  should  appear  in  the  world,  the  folly  and  turpitude  of  the 
thing  would  be  a  sufficient  evidence  of  the  madness  of  those  that 
made  it,  and  utterly  destroy  the  contents  of  it.  But  no  such  hav- 
ing been  as  yet  produced,  nor  any  reason  given  to  persuade  a  wise 
man  that  there  has  ever  been  any  such,  at  least  among  civilized 
nations  (for  whom  only  we  are  concerned),  it  may  be  concluded 
there  never  was  any,  or,  if  there  were,  they  do  not  at  all  relate  to 
our  subject,  and,  consequently,  that  nations  still  continue  in  their 
native  liberty,  and  are  no  otherwise  obliged  to  endure  the  inso' 
Unce  of  tyrants  than  they^  or  each  of  them,  may  esteem  them  tolerable.'''* 

The  views  of  Sidney  above  expressed  as  to  the  po- 
sition and  responsibility  of  a  magistrate  in  a  free 
slate,  raised  to  honors  and  office  by  the  voice  of  the 
people,  are  admirable  and  just.  That  part  of  the 
argument  which  denies  that  any  original  contract  be- 
tween king  and  people,  whether  real  or  imaginary, 
can  justify  absolute  dominion  and  hereditary  tyranny, 
no  one,  we  think,  in  our  day,  will  be  apt  to  controvert. 
His  conclusion  is  bold,  clear,  and  irresistible,  that 
nations  have  a  natural  right  to  assert  their  liberty, 
and  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  a  tyrant  whenever  they 
deem  it  proper.  Elsewhere  in  this  chapter  ho  ex- 
presses himself  more  fully  upon  this  branch  of  his 
subject. 

The  general  revolt  of  a  nation  cannot  he  called  a  rebellion. — 
Chap.  III.,  Sec.  36. 

"As  impostors  seldom  make  lies  to  pass  in  the  world  without 
putting  false  names  upon  things,  such  as  our  author  endeavors  to 
14* 


822  ALGEEKON  SIDNET. 

persuade  the  people  that  they  ought  not  to  defend  their  liberties, 
by  giving  the  nanne  of  rebellion  to  the  most  just  and  honorable 
actions  that  have  been  performed  for  the  preservation  of  them,  and 
to  aggravate  the  matter  fear  not  to  tell  us  that  rebellion  is  like  the 
sin  of  witchcraft.  But  those  who  seek  after  truth  will  easily  find 
that  there  can  be  no  such  thing  in  the  world  as  the  rebellion  of  a  na- 
tion against  its  own  magistrates,  and  that  rebellion  is  not  always  an 
evil.  That  this  may  appear,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  consider  the 
word  as  well  as  the  thing  understood  by  it,  as  it  is  used  in  an  evil 
sense. 

"The  word  is  taken  from  the  Latin  rebellare,  which  signifies  no 
more  than  to  renew  a  war.  When  a  town  or  province  had  been 
subdued  by  the  Romans,  and  brought  under  their  dominion,  if  they 
violated  their  faith  after  the  settlement  of  peace,  and  invaded  their 
masters  who  had  spared  them,  they  were  said  to  rebel.  But  it  had 
been  more  absurd  to  apply  that  word  to  the  people  that  rose 
against  the  decemviri,  kings,  or  other  magistrates,  than  to  the  Par- 
thians,  <jr  any  of  those,  nations  who  had  no  dependence  upon 
them;  for  all  the  circumstances  that  would  make  a  rebellion  were 
wanting,  the  word  implying  a  superiority  in  them  against  whom  it 
is  as  well  as  the  breach  of  an  established  peace.  But  though 
every  private  man,  singly  taken,  be  subject  to  the  commands  of 
the  magistrate,  the  whole  body  of  th^  people  is  not  so,  for  he  is  by 
and  for  the  people,  and  the  people  is  neither  by  nor  for  him.  The 
obedience  due  to  him  from  private  men,  is  grounded  upon,  and 
measured  by,  the  general  law ;  and  that  law,  regarding  the  wel- 
fare of  the  people,  cannot  set  up  the  interests  of  one  or  a  few  men 
against  the  public.  The  whole  body,  therefore,  of  a  nation,  can- 
not be  tied  to  any  other  obedience  than  is  consistent  with  the  com' 
mon  good  according  to  their  own  judgment ;  and  having  never 
been  subdued,  nor  brought  to  terms  of  peace  with  their  magis- 
trates, they  cannot  be  said  to  revolt  or  rebel  against  them,  to 
whom  they  owe  no  more  than  seems  good  to  themselves,  and  who 
art  nothing  of  or  by  themselves  more  than  other  men.^^ 

The  reciprocal  obligations  that  exist  between  the 


CnAFTER  IX.  323 

governor  and  the  governed,  and  the  rights  and  duties 
of  the  magistrate  as  the  representative  of  the  people, 
are  fnlly  discussed  hy  the  author  in  this  last  chapter 
of  his  work.  He  asserts  the  principle  that  a  luagis- 
trate  can  justly  lay  claim  to  no  other  power  than 
what  is  conferred  upon  him  by  the  people,  his  con- 
stituents, who  elect  him,  and  that  by  accepting  his 
official  trust,  certain  duties  and  obligations  devolve 
upon  him.  prescribed  by  law,  which,  under  no  pre- 
tence, is  to  be  disregarded.  If  the  magistrate  does 
presume  to  sot  the  constitution  and  laws  at  defiance, 
he  is  to  be  restrained  or  deposed,  by  impeachment  or 
otherwise,  through  the  customary  judicial  or  legisla- 
tive forms  ;  but  if  these  are  insutlicient,  either  by 
reason  of  a  defect  in  the  constitution,  or  of  the  usurped 
power  of  the  magistrate,  than  that  the  last  remedy, 
the  vltima  ratio,  revolution  is  justifiable.  And  that 
however  difficult  and  dangerous  this  remedy  may  be, 
through  any  defect  of  the  original  constitution,  yet, 
that  when  oppression  renders  it  necessary,  it  must  be 
tried.  "We  take  leave  of  this  part  of  the  subject 
without  presenting  any  further  extracts  to  illustrate 
Sidney's  views  in  regard  to  it.  An  additional  passage 
or  two,  from  which  some  idea  may  be  derived  of  the 
authoFs  views  regarding  popular  representation,  and 
the  powers,  duties,  and  obligations  of  delegates  of  the 
people,  will  close  our  selections  from  these  writings. 

No  jpeople  that  is  not  free  can  substitute  delegates. — Chap. 
III.,  Sec.  44. 
"  How  full  soever  the  power  of  any  persoA  or  people  may  be, 


824  ALGERNON   SIDNEY. 

he  or  they  are  obliged  to  give  only  so  much  to  their  delegates  as 
seems  convenient  to  themselves  or  conducing  to  the  ends  they  ^ 
desire  to  attain  ;  but  the  delegate  can  have  none  except  what  ii 
conferred  upon  him  by  his  principal.  If,  therefore,  the  knights, 
citizens,  and  burgesses  sent  by  the  people  of  England  to  serve  in 
parliament  have  a  power,  it  must  be  more  perfectly  and  fully  in 
those  that  send  them.  But  (as  was  proved  in  the  last  section) 
proclamations  and  other  significations  of  the  king's  pleasure,  are  ^ 
not  laws  to  us.  They  are  to  be  regulated  by  the  law,  not  the  law 
by  them.  They  are  to  be  considered  only  so  far  as  they  are  con- 
formable to  the  laws,  from  which  they  receive  all  the  strength 
that  is  in  them,  and  can  confer  none  upon  it.  We  know  no  laws 
but  our  own  slalutes,  and  those  immemorial  customs  established 
by  the  consent  of  the  nation  which  may  be,  and  often  are,  changed 
by  us.  The  legislative  power,  therefore,  that  is  exercised  by  the 
parliament,  cannot  be  conferred  by  the  writ  of  summons,  but  must 
be  essentially  and  radically  in  the  people,  from  whom  their  delegates 
and  representatives  have  all  that  they  have.  But,  says  our  author, 
'  they  must  only  choose,  and  trust  those  whom  they  choose,  to  do 
what  they  list,  and  that  is  as  mnch  liberty  as  many  of  us  deserve 
for  our  irregular  elections  of  burgesses.'  This  is  ingeniously 
concluded.  I  take  what  servant  I  please,  and  when  I  have  taken 
him  I  must  suffer  him  to  do  what  he  pleases.  But  from  whence 
should  this  necessity  arise  ?  Why  may  not  I  take  one  to  be  my 
groom,  another  to  be  my  cook,  and  keep  them  both  to  the  offices 
for  which  I  took  them  1  What  law  does  herein  restrain  my  right  ? 
And  if  I  am  free  in  my  private  capacity  to  regulate  my  particular 
affairs  according  to  my  own  discretion,  and  to  allot  to  each  servant 
his  proper  work,  why  have  not  I,  with  my  associates,  the  freemen 
of  England,  the  like  liberty  of  directing  and  limiting  the  powers 
of  the  servants  we  employ  in  our  public  affairs?  Our  author 
gives  us  reasons  proportionable  to  his  judgment :  ^  This  were 
liberty  with  a  mischief,  and  that  of  choosing  only  is  as  much  as 
many  of  us  deserve.'  I  have  already  proved  that  as  far  as  our 
histories  reach,  we  have  had  no  princes  or  magistrates  but  such 
as  we  have  made,  and  they  have  had  no  other  power  but  what  we 


CHAPTER  IX.  325 

have  conferred  upon  them.  They  cannot  be  the  judges  of  oar 
merit  who  have  no  power  but  what  we  gave  them,  through  an 
opinion  they  did  or  might  deserve  it;  they  may  distribute  in  par- 
cels to  particulars  that  with  which  they  are  entrusted  in  the  gross, 
but  it  is  impossible  that  the  public  should  depend  absolutely  upon 
those  who  are  nothing  above  other  men,  except  what  they  are 
made  to  be  for  and  by  the  public." 

These  views  of  popular  representation,  and  tho 
duties  and  obligations  of  the  representative,  are  liberal 
and  philosophical.  The  representative  is  not  merely 
chosen  and  clothed  with  all  the  power  he  possesses  by 
the  people,  but  he  is  actually  the  servant  of  the  people, , 
their  delegate,  bound  to  respect  their  wishes  and  even 
obey  their  instructions,  as  a  servant  respects  the 
wishes  and  obeys  the  instructions  of  the  man  who 
employs  him.  In  the  next  chapter,  Sidney  farther 
discusses  the  obligations  of  the  representative  of  the 
people,  and  his  duty  to  obey  the  laws  he  makes  : — 

The  legislative  power  is  always  arbitrary^  and  not  to  he  trusted 
in  the  hands  of  any  who  are  not  hound  to  obey  the  laws  they 
make. — Chap.  III.,  Sec.  45. 

"If  it  be  objected  that  I  am  a  defender  of  arbitrary  powers,  I 
confess  I  cannot  comprehend  how  any  society  can  be  established 
or  subsist  without  them,  for  the  establishment  of  government  is  an 
arbitrary  act,  wholly  depending  on  the  will  of  men.  Th^  par- 
ticular forms  and  constitution,  the  whole  series  pf  the  magistracy, 
together  with  the  measure  of  power  given  to  every  one,  and  the 
rules  by  which  they  are  to  execute  their  charge  are  so  also. 
Magna  Charta,  which  comprehends  our  ancient  laws,  and  all  the 
subsequent  statutes,  were  not  sent  from  heaven,  but  made  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  men.  If  no  men  could  have  a  power  of  mak- 
ing laws,  none  could  ever  have  been  made ;  for  all  that  are  or 


326  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

have  been  in  the  world,  except  those  given  by  God  to  the  Israelites, 
were  made  by  them — that  is,  they  have  exercised  an  arbitrary 
power  in  making  that  to  be  law  which  was  not,  or  annulling  that 
which  was.  The  various  laws  and  governments,  which  are  or 
have  been  in  several  ages  and  places,  are  the  product  of  various 
opinions  in  those  who  had  the  power  of  making  them.  This 
must  necessarily  be,  unless  a  general  rule  be  set  to  all ;  for  the 
judgments  of  men  will  vary  if  they  are  left  to  their  liberty ;  and 
the  variety  that  is  found  among  them  shows  they  are  subject  to  no 
rule  but  that  of  their. own.  reason,  by  which  they  see  what  is  fit  to 
be  embraced  or  avoided  according  to  the  several  circumstances 
under  which  they  live.  The  authority  that  judges  of  these  cir- 
cumstances is  arbitrary,  and  the  legislators  show  themselves  to  be 
more  or  less  wise  and  good  as  they  do  rightly  or  not  rightly  exer- 
cise this  power.  The  difference,  therefore,  between  good  and  ill 
governments  is  not  that  those  of  one  sort  have  au  arbit  ary  power 
ivhich  the  other  have  not — for  they  all  have  it;  but  that  those 
which  are  well  constituted,  place  this  power  so  as  it  may  be  bene- 
ficial to  the  people,  and  set  such  rules  as  are  hardly  to  be  trans- 
gressed, while  those  of  the  other  sort  fail  in  one  or  both  these 
points." 

^  •??  "^  ^  ^  ^ 

*'I  think  I  may  justly  say  that  an  arbitrary  power  was  never 
■well  placed  in  any  men  and  their  successors  who  were  not  obliged 
to  obey  the  laws  they  should  make.  This  was  well  understood 
by  our  Saxon  ancestors.  They  made  laws  in  their  assemblies  and 
councils  of  the  nation  ;  but  all  those  who  proposed  or  assented  to 
those  laws,  as  soon  as  the  assemblies  were  dissolved,  were  com- 
prehended under  the  power  of  them,  as  well  as  other  men.  They 
could  do  nothing  to  the  prejudice  of  the  nation  that  would  not  be 
as  hurtful  to  those  who  were  present,  and  their  posterity,  as  to 
those  who,  by  many  accidents,  might  be  absent.  The  Normans 
entered  into,  and  continued  in  the  same  path.  Our  parliaments  at 
this  day  are  in  the  same  condition.  They  may  make  prejudicial 
wars,  ignominious  treaties,  and  unjust  laws;  yet,  when  the  ses- 
sion is  ended,  they  must  bear  the  burden  as  well  as  others,  and 


CHAPTER   IX.  327 

when  they  die  the  teeth  of  their  children  will  be  set  on  edge  with 
the  sour  grapes  they  have  eaten.  But  it  is  hard  to  delude  or  cor- 
rupt so  many.  Men  do  not,  in  matters  of  the  hij^hest  importance, 
yield  to  slight  temptations.  No  man  serves  the  devil  for  nothin^^; 
small  wages  wii  not  content  those  who  expose  themselves  to  per- 
petual infamy,  and  the  hatred  of  a  nation  for  betraying  their 
country.  Our  kings  had  not  wherewithal  to  corrupt  many  till 
these  last  twenty  years;  and  the  treachery  of  a  few  was  not 
enough  to  pass  a  law.  The  union  of  many  was  not  easily 
Wrought,  and  there  was  nothing  to  tempt  them  to  endeavor  it,  for 
(hey  could  make  little  advantage  during  the  session,  and  were  to 
be  lost  in  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  prejudiced  by  their  own 
laws  as  soon  as  it  was  ended.  They  could  not  in  a  short  time 
reconcile  their  various  interests  or  passions  so  as  to  combine  toge- 
ther against  the  public ;  and  the  former  kings  never  went  about 
it.  We  are  beholden  to  Hyde,  Clifford,  and  Danby,  for  all  that 
has  been  done  of  that  kind.  They  found  a  parliament  full  of 
lewd  young  men,  chosen  by  a  furious  people,  in  spite  of  the  Puri- 
tans, whose  severity  had  distasted  them.  The  weakest  of  all 
ministers  had  wit  enough  to  understand  that  such  as  these  might 
be  eaisily  deluded,  corrupted,  or  bribed.  Some  were  fond  of  their 
seats  in  parliament,  and  delighted  to  domineer  over  their  neighbors 
by  continuing  in  them ;  others  preferred  the  cajoleries  of  the 
court  before  the  honor  of  performing  their  duty  to  the  country 
that  employed  them.  Some  sought  to  relieve  their  ruined  for- 
tunes, and  were  most  forward  to  give  the  king  a  vast  revenue, 
that  from  thence  thev  might  receive  pensions;  others  were  glad 
of  a  temporary  protection  against  their  creditors.  Many  knew 
not  what  they  did  when  they  annulled  the  triennial  act,  voted  the 
militia  to  be  in  the  king,  give  him  the  excise,  customs,  chimney 
money,  made  the  act  for  corporations  by  which  the  greatest  part 
of  the  nation  was  brought  under  the  power  of  the  worst  men  in 
it,  drunk  or  sober,  passed  the  five  mile  act,  and  that  for  uniformity 
in  the  church.  This  emboldened  the  court  to  think  of  making 
parliaments  to  be  the  instruments  of  our  slavery,  which  had  in  all 
ages  past  been  the  firmest  pillars  of  our  liberty.     There  might 


328  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

have  been,  perhaps,  a  possibility  of  preventing  this  pernicious 
mischief  in  the  constitution  of  our  government.  But  our  brave 
ancestors  could  never  think  their  posterity  would  degenerate  into 
such  baseness  as  to  sell  themselves  and  their  country.  Uut  how 
great  soever  the  danger  may  be,  it  is  Jess  than  tQ»put  all  into  the 
hands  of  one  man  and  his  ministers.  The  hazard  of  being  ruined 
by  those  who  must  perish  with  us,  is  not  so  much  to  be  feared  as 
by  one  who  may  enrich  and  strengthen  himself  by  our  destruc- 
tion. It  is  better  to  depend  upon  those  who  are  under  a  possi- 
bility of  being  again  corrupted,  than  upon  one  who  applies  him- 
self to  corrupt  them,  because  he  cannot  otherwise  accomplish  his 
designs.  It  were  to  be  wished  that  our  security  were  more  ceB- 
tain :  but  this  being,  under  God,  the  best  anchor  we  can  have,  it 
deserves  to  be  preserved  with  all  care,  till  one  of  a  more  unques- 
tionable strength  be  framed  by  the  consent  of  the  nation." 

The  limits  marked  out  for  this  work,  will  not  per- 
mit us  to  make  any  further  selections  from  these  writ- 
ings of  Sidney.  The  foregoing  are  deemed  sufficient 
to  acquaint  the  reader  generally  with  his  views  of  gov- 
ernment and  the  nature  of  his  political  opinions. 
They  show  conclusively  the  firm  and  settled  conviction 
of  an  enlightened  and  powerful  intellect,  which,  after 
mature  reflection,  had  embraced  the  doctrines  of  po- 
pular liberty,  as  the  elementary  truths  of  political 
science,  and  having  once  embraced  them,  cherished 
them  with  the  same  faith  that  lighted  the  path  of 
Grallileo  to  his  dungeon,  and  sustained  him  against  the 
ignorance,  the  incredulity,  the  intolerance  of  his  age. 
The  political  theories  of  Sidney  in  his  day  in  England 
met  with  the  same  reception  as  did  the  magnificent 
dit^coveries  of  Grallileo  in  Europe.  The  heresy  of  th© 
philosopher  was  rewarded  with  a  dungeon  :  the  treason 


CHAPTEE    IX.  329 

of  the  stateman  with  the  scaffold.  And  yet  in  a  few- 
years  the  speculations  of  Sidney  were  no  longer  vision- 
ary theories  ;  in  a  few  years  men  wondered  in  amRze- 
ment  that  a  system  like  G-allileo's  should  have  ever 
encountered  opposition.  Such  is  the  history  of  the 
progress  of  truth. 

Sidney's  opposition  to  the  government  of  Charles  II. 
has  sometimes  been  attributed  to  his  deep-rooted  ani- 
mosity to  the  Stuart  family.  This  is  a  mistake,  and 
in  its  origin  was  doubtless  a  calumny.  No  man  ever 
acted  more  directly  from  a  sincere  and  honest  convic- 
tion, or  more  tenaciously  adhered  to  principle.  He 
was  from  principle  and  conviction  a  friend  of  liberal 
institutions,  and  an  enemy  of  absolute  monarchy. 
His  contemporary,  Bishop  Burnet,  who  well  knew  his 
opinions,  declares  that  he  was  "  stiff  to  all  republican 
pri-nciples,"  and  attributes  his  opposition  to  Cromwell 
solely  to  his  hatred  to  '^  everything  that  looked  like  a 
monarchy."  In  short,  Sidney's  opinions  were  formed, 
and  his  course  of  action  guided  not  by  foolish  preju- 
dice, or  selfish  animosities,  but  by  the  honest  convic- 
tions of  conscience,  and  the  clear  dictates  of  right  and 
duty. 

While  the  political  opinions  of  Sidney  have  been 
misunderstood,  his  religious  sentiments  and  the  nature 
of  his  religious  professions,  have  been  much  misrepre- 
sented. Entirely  free  from  that  wild,  religious  enthu- 
siasm which  was  so  deeply  impressed  upon  characters 
like  those  of  Harrison  and  Hugh  Peters,  and  many  of 
the  Puritans,  yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  Sidney  was 


830  ALGEENOX  SID^-EY. 

a  sincere  Christian.  Hume,  with  an  almost  inexcusa- 
ble ignorance,  classes  him  with  Harrington,  Neville, 
and  Challoner,  the  deists,  who  denied  the  truth  of 
revelation,  and  whose  sole  object  in  co-operating  with 
the  Independents  was  political  liberty.  That  Hume  is 
not  less  mistaken  in  this,  than  in  many  other  statements 
respecting  the  English  republicans,  is  evident  from  the 
remark  of  Bishop  Burnet,  who  knew  Sidney  well,  and 
who  says  of  him  :  He  seemed  to  be  a  Christian,  but  in 
a  particular  form  of  his  own  ;  he  thought  k.  was  to 
be  like  a  divine  philosophy  of  the  mind."  Burnet 
adds  that  he  was  opposed  to  external  forms  of  public 
worship  and  to  *' everything  that  looked  like  a 
church;"  bu^t  the  worthy  bishop  doubtless  uses  tho 
term  church  in  what  he  conceives  to  be  its  true  accep- 
tation, and  not  as  applicable  to  the  chapels  and  con- 
venticles of  the  dissenters.  In  this  sense  the  remark 
might  be  equally  true  of  Yane,  in  whose  *'  preaching 
and  praying"  Burnet  found  such  a  '^  peculiar  dark- 
ness." And  yet  Yane  was  known  to  be  thoroughly 
imbued  with  the  doctrines  of  Calvin.  The  religious 
opinions  of  Sidney,  like  Yane's,  doubtless  conformed  ia 
the  main,  to  the  theology  of  Greneva,  but  like  Yane 
he  was  an  Independent,  opposed  to  the  hierarchy  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  unalterably  opposed  to 
the  establishment  by  law  of  any  particular  creed  or 
form  of  worship.  In  other  words,  he  desired  to  estab- 
lish that  primary  doctrine  of  free  government  UxViver- 
SAL  TOLERATION,  sccuring  to  evcry  man  full  freedom 
of  conscience  and  freedom  of  intellect,  and  keeping 


CHATTER  IX.  331 

the  Church,  as  an  institution,  entirely  separate 
and  distinct  from  the  state.  These  views  were 
shared  by  all  the  leading  republicans— ^by  those 
who  professed,  as  well  as  those  who  manifested 
little  regard,  for  the  truths  of  religion — by  Cromwell, 
Bradshaw,  and  St.  John,  as  well  as  by  Marten,  Chal- 
loner  and  Harrington.  They  prove  that  the  Indepen- 
dents, a5  statesmen,  were  in  advance  of  their  age  in 
just  conce-ptions  of  the  principles  of  free  government, 
and  in  comprehending  the  political  rights  of  mankind. 
The  charge  of  scepticism  is  also  refuted  by  the  words 
and  writings  which  Sidney  left  behind  him.  His  dis- 
courses contain  frequent  illustrations  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  These  were 
written  many  years  before  his  death.  That  his  be- 
lief rpmained  unshaken  down  to  the  hour  of  his  execu- 
tion, is  apparent  from  his  conduct  and  confessions. 
In  his  last  hours  he  sent  for  several  dissenting  minis- 
ters, to  whom  he  expressed  deep  penitence  for 
whatever  sins  he  had  committed,  and  a  firm  confi- 
dence and  hope  in  the  mercies  of  God.  His  last  pub- 
lic declaration,  left  to  the  world  in  the  day  of  his 
death,  contains  his  solemn  recognition  of  the  truths  of 
Christianity:  "  I  lived  in  this  belief  and  am  about  to 
die  for  it.  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  lives  ;  and  as 
he  has,  in  a  great  measure,  upheld  me  in  the  day  of 
my  calamity,  I  hope  that  he  will  still  uphold  me  by 
his  spirit  in  this  last  moment,  and  giving  me  grace  to 
glorify  him  in  my  death,  receive  me  into  the  glory 


i53^  ALGEENON  SIDNEY. 

prepared  for  those  that  fear  him,  when  my  body  shall 
be  dissolved." 

The  private  character  of  this  illustrious  man,  was 
as  exemplary  as  his  public  was  upright  and  indepen- 
dent. It  has  been  truly  said  of  him,  that  a  more 
honorable  or  a  higher  moral  character  did  not  exist ; 
that  he  had  all  the  elevation  and  dignity  of  mind  of 
a  man  who  was  untainted  with  the  profligate  vices  of 
the  age  in  which  he  lived  ;  that  he  was  a  man  of  the 
strictest  veracity,  and  incapable  of  uttering  a  false- 
hood to  save  his  life.  It  is  not  meant  by  this  that 
Sidney's  was  o.  perfect  character  ;  that  he  was  exempt 
from  the  common  frailties  of  humanity,  or  that  his 
philosophy  elevated  him  above  those  passions  and 
weaknesses  to  which  even  the  wisest  and  best  of 
mankind  are  subject.  Such  was  by  no  means  the 
case.  Like  all  other  men,  he  had  his  imperfections 
and  his  faults.  He  was  hasty,  irascible,  and  impe- 
rious in  temper,  tenacious  of  his  opinions,  even  to 
obstinacy,  and  impatient  of  contradiction.  Bishop 
Burnet  mentions  his  ''  rough  and  boisterous  temper," 
but  he  also  speaks  of  his  sincerity  and  his  frankness  of 
disposition.  In  his  manners  he  was  not  un  frequently 
austere  and  cold,  and  he  sometimes  gave  way  to  des- 
pondency of  mind  ;  but  he  was  possessed  of  a  most 
insinuating  address,  and  of  extraordinary  colloquial 
power — or  as  Jeffries  sneeringly  characterized  it — "  a 
luxuriant  way  of  talking,"  which  never  failed  to 
please  and  fascinate  whenever  he  choso  to  employ  it. 
His  minor  faults  of  temper  and  disposition,  are  lost  in 


CHAPTEE  IX.  333 

the  contemplation  of  those  nobler  attributes  and  manly 
virtues  which  gave  such  lustre  to  #  his  character. 
While  it  certainly  should  not  be  the  aim  of  the  biogra- 
pher, who  seeks  to  delineate  correctly  the  character  of 
his  subject,  to  conceal  or  attempt  to  extenuate  its 
blemishes  or  faults,  it  is  yet  his  province  to  dwell  with 
most  satisfaction,  and  to  present  most  prominently 
those  attributes  which  dignify  and  those  virtues  which 
ennoble  it.  The  end  of'  biography  is  finely  expressed 
by  Dr.  Channing  to  be  "  to  give  immortality  to  virtue, 
and  to  call  forth  present  admiration  towards  those  who 
have  shed  splendor  on  past  ages." 

In  a  spirit  of  sympathy  with  the  subject,  which, 
perhaps,  needs  no  apology,  I  have  thus  attempted  to 
trace  the  career  and  sketch  the  character  of  Alger- 
non Sidney.  Errors  may  well  be  passed  over  in 
silence  and  his  faults  forgotten,  where  so  much  re- 
mains to  be  admired  and  venerated.  One  of  the 
noblest  martyrs  of  that  liberty  which  the  progress  of 
civilization  and  the  developments  of  time  seem  to  point 
out  as  the  heritage  of  the  Anglo  Saxon  race.  His  were 
virtues  which  deserve  immortality,  and  his  a  name 
which  will  go  down  with  honor  to  remote  generations 
of  men.  The  man  dies,  the  principles  he  cherished 
are  immortal.  That  cause  for  which  Sidney  suffered, 
proscribed  in  his  day,  has  been  gloriously  vindicated 
in  ours.  The  doctrines  of  resistance  to  oppression — 
of  popular  sovereignty — of  the  inalienable  right'  of 
mankind  to  intellectual  and  moral,  to  civil  and  reli- 
gious freedom — of  which  he  was  the  champion  in  life, 


334  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

and  in  death  tho  martyr*  have  bacome^tHe  foundation 
and  corner  stone  of  those  democratic^-iqstitutions 
which  since  his  day  have  sprang  up  in  the  New 
"World.  No  nobler  cenotaph  than  the  free  institutions 
of  America  ^can  be  reared  to  the  memory  of  the  dust 
which  sleeps  in  its  ancestral  vault  at  Penshurst.  No 
more  glorious  epitaph  can  be  written  for  the  patriot 
martyr  than  that  w^hich  so  eloquently  speaks  in  the 
silent  workings  of  those  institutions.  Surely  while 
they  endure,  and  w^hile  the  doctrines  which  Sidney 
taught  shall  continue  to  be  regarded  as  the  elementary 
truths  of  our  political  creed,  it  may  w4th  truth  be  said 
that  the  noble  blood  shed  in  their  defence  on  Tower, 
Hill  has  not  been  spilled  in  vain. 

TKB   END. 


'  K :  :-  if!*' 

"ill 

1    ''■!'  "■'!  ''.1 

1 

